Pull out a calculator
As my high school teacher used to say, let's do the math. According to The Washington Post Fact Checker, as of Jan. 20, 2020, Trump had been in office 1,095 days, and during that time he had lied or stated misleading claims 16,241 times, and it has gotten worse since then.
I do not know how they determined that some statements were lies and others just misleading. If you give the president the benefit of doubt and conclude that half were not lies but just misleading statements, then he still lied on average 7.42 times a day. Do the math (8,120 divided by 1095 equals 7.42). You could unreasonably go so far to give him the benefit of doubt and say that 85 percent were just misleading. That still leaves him lying on average over two times at day. Do the math (15 percent of 16,241 is 2,436 lies divided by 1095 equals 2.22).
For an American president to, on average, lie twice a day to the American people is two too many.
RALPH HAMNER
Hot Springs Village
Wouldn't be disaster
I have the answer to the letter by Roy Davis about the results of the pandemic if Hillary Clinton were president. Since we now know that the virus first arrived in New York from Europe, we know that the obsession with China that the current president showed by restricting flights from Asia made little difference.
We also know the current president was consumed with being impeached, ignored reports of the virus from experts, eliminated the task force that was in place to plan a national response to a pandemic crisis, fired the expert in China to advise and keep a close watch on the virus, and diverted funds that should have been used to fight the virus for a wall that didn't do any good at all. It appears that this president did everything possible to ignore and downplay the virus and continues to obstruct medicine and science at every turn.
I believe Hillary Clinton would have taken the same effective and competent steps that Vice President Biden and President Obama took when handling all three outbreaks of disease (Ebola, Zika and H1N1), and the results would certainly not have ended up with the United States delaying taking any action and becoming the world leader in disastrous results due to the virus.
PAUL WAGENER
Jacksonville
Reap what was sown
America is reaping the harvest of an unfit impeached president at a crisis point in our country. Precious weeks were squandered by an inept administration solely focused on extending its corrupt and destructive control. We now have assault rifles at rallies and Fox network spewing its continuous rabid propaganda for this shameful excuse of a leader.
Joseph Goebbels must be looking up from his post with a smile.
ROGER MARSH
Little Rock
Paying a heavy price
I, as a black man, am spiritually and emotionally angry and tired of seeing criminal acts such what happened to Ahmaud Arbery (a young black man who was fatally shot while jogging in a Brunswick, Ga., neighborhood) occur against people of color, specifically against black people. As a child of the '70s I saw moments and acts such as these occur regularly in the long-reaching shadows of the racist madness of the '50s and '60s. My generation argued and protested and fought for recognition and equality, with some paying a heavy price.
But I never dreamed this racist madness would carry until our present day. And today, I cry out and ask God, "When will this end?"
As I have three adult sons (and four adult daughters) and growing grandsons and granddaughters who are living in days such as these, I have a true fear that the madness and sin of racism could one day snap its ugly head toward them.
I am a Bible-believing, God-fearing man of God who just so happens to also be black, and I can only trust that a righteous and holy God will work through our justice system to bring justice to the family of this black man in Georgia, and to all of us who live in a society that has not yet come to understand--or care to understand--that because one's skin is black (from lighter shades to darker shades) this does not mean he or she is a criminal or lesser human being.
I am tired, tired, tired. And I still cry out to him, "When will this end?"
Justice for Ahmaud Arbery!
CLYDE HUGHLEY
Hot Springs
Answer some queries
I would like to hear opinions of conservatives and liberals alike concerning the following issues:
What is the optimal population of Earth? Is there a better solution to government indebtedness than growing the work force, thus enlarging the population in perpetuity? Which species tends to perpetuate its weaker traits? Do people believe they are stating a truth when they say, "If it saves one life, it is worth the indebtedness of billions of dollars"?
If people believe that human life is sacred, how can they justify risking thousands of lives to float the economy? Is this the moral equivalent to abortion for economic reasons?
JACK ARNOLD
Mountain Home
Editorial on 05/09/2020