Peace and Good Will

Dear Editor,

“Tis the season and the man who claims to have been “saved by god” is celebrating the birth of Christ with messages of hatred, vengeance and the threat of literal hellfire.  By Presidential proclamation, Somali immigrants – inclusive of naturalized citizens – are “garbage.”  Those who speak unequivocal truth about legal constraints upon military actions are branded traitors deserving of execution.  And people living in countries such as Nigeria and Columbia, as well as Mexico and Venezuela, should fear the arrival of Americans, “guns a-blazing.”

Meanwhile, in cities across the nation, Santa’s masked and heavily armed little helpers are busy tearing hundreds if not thousands of harmless men, women and children away from their homes and families and depositing them as far away from public scrutiny as possible.

The season will bring blessings to some, though.  Despite being convicted and sentenced to 45 years in prison for operating a “cocaine superhighway,” Juan Orlando Hearnandez will be spending Christmas at home with his family, thanks to a Trump pardon.  Convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell will likely be cuddled up with her puppy in the minimally secured prison “camp” she has somehow earned.  With Trump’s acquiescence in Ukraine, international criminal Vladimir Putin might just enjoy his best Christmas ever – perhaps with a record-breaking bombardment of hospitals and apartment buildings.

Since time immemorial, humans in northern climes have marked late December as an end to darkness and the reemergence of light.   Astronomically, that transition is automatic.  With the Trump administration, it is all but unimaginable.

Michael Brandt, Spring Green, WI