School starts and a new AG is coming

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL: Last Monday (Aug. 20) was the first day of classes at a neighborhood elementary school. While driving slowly (due to construction) toward an intersection where the school is located I noticed a couple of mothers walking small children with knapsacks on their backs away from the school. Probably toward home. These mothers were smiling at the children talking fast and animatedly about probably their first day in school. In my first days of school, I walked one block straight up the street with other kids from the neighborhood. Parents did not walk us to school in the late thirties or early forties. Doing so today is both an expression of parental love and a safety measure for the little ones. I also smiled and drove on to Costco.

THE ATTORNEY GENERAL: South Carolina Republican U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, who golfs with President Trump, tells us that the President will likely replace Attorney General Jeff Sessions after the mid-terms in November. Trump wants an AG who will weaken or shut down Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller”s investigation. Sen. Graham should make it clear right up front that the Senate Judiciary Committee, of which he is a member and potentially Chairman in the next session, will extract a promise from any AG nominee that he will not interfere, slow down, or put an end to the Mueller investigation, regardless of the cost or time it takes to complete it. The goal is the preservation of Democracy, not playing golf with the President. 

The value of newspapers

 The value of a free (no government control or censorship) press is to individuals as it is to society as a whole. In August I shared a healthy exchange of views with another writer and the readers of the Letters to the Editor of The Post and Courier (Charleston, SC).

This letter started the exchange:

(Published August 3, 2018)

Trade War
  Farmers helped elect Donald Trump to be president, As president, Mr. Trump initiated a trade war that hurt farmers. Now, he is spending $12 billion taken from taxpayers to help the farmers.
  Exactly which drawer in the lunacy bin should this be filed under?

  Francis x. Archibald
  Central Haven Drive
  Mt. Pleasant, SC

Another reader/writer chimed in:

(Published August 7, 2018)

Making Deals

 In response to the article in the Aug. 3 paper titled "Trade war," how about filing it under the luxury bin next to the move by President Barack Obama to send two planeloads of cash to Iran for the release of one Army deserter.
  President Donald Trump, however, was able to get three men released from North Korea without spending a dime. Who was the smart one in these deals?

Perry Jones
Pimmit Place
Ladson

I countered with this:

(Published August 10, 2018)  

  The claim in the Aug. 7 letter to the editor, "Making Deals," that President Obama sent planeloads of cash to Iran for one Army deserter is inaccurate.

  CNN reported at the time (January 2016) that five men were released, including an American journalist in a prisoner swap. The money coincidentally sent to Iran was theirs and had been held by the United States since the Reagan administration.

  It was publicly announced in the United States and only became part of anti-Obama conspiracy theories six months later when Iranians started the rumor. This was covered by fact checker Snopes.com.

Francis X. Archibald

Central Haven Drive

Mount Pleasant

Random Things

After dressing I came out of the bedroom and into the living room and thence to the kitchen where I heard a hard loud noise. I thought the refrigerator was coming apart and then I thought it was the air conditioning.  After checking each of these I was baffled for a few moments until I remembered I had started the dishwasher before I went into the bedroom to put on my clothes, and a couple of pots were being banged around

On the second day of the Paul Manafort trial in Virginia, The Washington Post reported: “President Trump’s former campaign chairman spent more than a million dollars on suits and luxury clothes over a five year period, using foreign bank accounts to pay for cars, renovations, and real estate in what prosecutors say was a tax-dodging scheme.” Manafort is said to have bought a $15,000 Ostrich jacket. I feel embarrassed for being a cheapskate. A couple of weeks ago I would not pay $175.00 for an end of the season seersucker jacket.

Via Amazon Prime, I am watching NYPD Blue the gritty cop show set in the fictional 15th precinct which kept viewers coming back week after week during its twelve-year run (1993 to 2005). Each season had 21 or 22 weekly shows. Surprisingly these shows, unlike many others of the same period, retain a contemporary appeal. Each week’s offering could be taken right out of today’s daily news. I am into year three. These shows were (are) much better than what is on TV today, and won Dennis Franz, four Emmys.