Public wants to hear witnesses
Much of the focus in the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump has been centered on the lack of impartiality by each side.
The critics, whichever their political affiliation, are correct.
When the Democratic-controlled House began hearings last month on whether to impeach the president, the majority had already determined that it would vote to do so. The Democrats mostly brought forward witnesses who would say that the president tried to coerce a foreign power, Ukraine, to help him out politically by conditioning desperately needed military aid and a desired meeting at the White House on its cooperation, and that the misconduct was grave enough to warrant Trump’s removal from office.
When the Republican-controlled Senate convened this month to decide whether to convict, many GOP senators announced, even while swearing an oath of impartiality, that they had already made up their mind to acquit the president, and to do it as speedily as possible. With conviction requiring a two-thirds vote, there is not a chance, regardless of how long the trial lasts, that the president will lose when the Senate finally goes through the formality of voting on the two articles of impeachment.
The only mystery that exists is whether a handful of GOP senators, before Trump’s acquittal is officially registered, will peel off from the majority and agree to the Democrats’ request to call witnesses, starting with John Bolton, Trump’s former national security adviser. It is getting tougher for Republican senators to not acquiesce, with roughly 70 percent of Americans polled, including nearly a majority of Republican voters, saying they are all for hearing new testimony.
The pressure to have Bolton testify has increased over the past couple of days with multiple media outlets now reporting that in a forthcoming book, the former member of the White House inner circle writes that the president, contrary to Trump’s repeated denials, told Bolton that he wanted to withhold security aid from Ukraine until it helped him with investigations into Democratic political rival Joe Biden and Biden’s son, Hunter. Although Bolton refused to testify before the House, he has since said he will appear before the Senate if subpoenaed.
Assuming acquittal of Trump is certain, what would be the point of putting Bolton on the witness stand? Answer: To firmly establish what exactly transpired.
The Democrats have made a convincing case — though admittedly a one-sided one — that the president abused his office and compromised the nation’s national security in the process. Bolton’s testimony could conceivably erase any doubt.
That still is unlikely to get Republicans to vote for a conviction, as they are worried what the fallout might be in their own future elections if they were complicit in removing a president who remains immensely popular with the GOP’s ultraconservative base.
But the voters, which will probably be the ultimate decider of Trump’s fate, could benefit from additional testimony in arriving at their own conclusion. The Senate has the opportunity to provide this clarity by calling Bolton and other key witnesses, and letting the House managers as well as Trump’s attorneys question them. The Senate will be derelict in its fact-finding duty if it does not do so.
Tim Kalich
Editor and Publisher
Greenwood Commonwealth
A thoroughfare for trafficking
A company that provides services to vulnerable children said it bluntly this week: Mississippi is a thoroughfare for the horrible crime of human trafficking.
That assessment came in a press release from Canopy Children’s Solutions, which assists children through a program of behavioral health, educational and social services efforts.
“Information gathered from the National Human Trafficking Hotline shows a hotbed of activity throughout the Gulf Coast from Louisiana to Florida along Interstate 10,” the press release said. “Additionally, Interstate 20 has been dubbed the Human Trafficking Super Highway for its heightened activity — both are major Mississippi thoroughfares.
“The hotline receives an average of 150 calls each day regarding tips or cries for help. As the number of victims begins to rise swiftly — estimated between 25 and 40 million victims across the globe — we are starting to see more and more activity in our own backyard.”
The press release said sexual exploitation is the largest element of human trafficking, while other parts include forced labor and even debt bondage. This is uncomfortably close to the immoral practices of slavery and indentured servitude, and the problem demands more attention so that the public can recognize signs of possible trafficking:
• Seeing a young person and an adult whose behavior toward one another is different from normal parent-child interaction. Typically a trafficked child is fearful or overly sexual.
• A person with a tattoo of a name, number or barcode in a visible location, such as the neck, chest, shoulder or arm, may be a victim of sex trafficking.
• A young person alone at night at gas stations or truck stops, or who is carrying no identification or belongings.
• A child who solicits sex, or a female child whose appearance is highly inappropriate for her age, including hair extensions, revealing clothing, flashy manicures or dramatic makeup.
• A person with bruises, open wounds or swelling on very visible areas of the face and body.
The press release said that between July and October 2019 — just four months — authorities rescued 88 juvenile victims of human trafficking in Mississippi. But the press release said that is almost certainly “a small glimpse of the gruesome larger picture.”
If I-10 and I-20 are trafficking highways, it’s likely that Interstate 55 is used for a share of this transportation as well. That means this problem is running right through McComb, and residents who see young people or adults with any of the signs listed above should contact local authorities.
They also can call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-737-7888. Anyone who wants more information can visit the site www.ice.gov/features/human-trafficking.
January is Human Trafficking Awareness Month, and the first step is becoming aware that victims of this horrible crime very likely pass through this area.
Jack Ryan, Enterprise-Journal
Bernie’s education answer: no tests
In a column he recently wrote for USA Today, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders parroted the complaints of the teachers unions about standardized tests.
Among Sanders’ arguments against them is that they have “forced” teachers to teach to the test; they keep students from a “holistic educational experience and the joys of learning” by investing so much classtime in test preparation; and they have contributed to the perception that America’s public schools are failing.
Like a lot of what the avowed socialist says, this is a bunch of nonsense.
Nothing is forcing teachers to teach to the test. Where that is happening — and admittedly it is happening — is where the schools are so weak that the administrators don’t trust the teachers, if left to their own devices, to spend enough time teaching the basic skills and subject knowledge these tests are designed to confirm. Thus, the schools try to game the system by spending an exorbitant amount of time and resources on test preparation.
The tests aren’t creating that. The schools’ lack of confidence in their teaching prowess is.
Same thing with the joy of learning. Where education has become joyless, it’s not because of tests. It’s because of a shortage of competent, inspiring, driven educators — or of administrators who understand where they should be spending their limited financial resources. If schools wanted to spend less money on test prep and more on arts and music education, there is nothing to prevent them from doing so other than themselves.
As for standardized testing giving U.S. public education an undeservedly bad rap, the truth is that standardized testing has exposed one of our nation’s glaring shortcomings. Our education system lags behind most developed nations in terms of how much knowledge it imparts and what it expects from students. For decades, objective comparisons of the academic achievement of U.S. students in secondary and elementary schools have consistently shown our nation lagging. We’ve been able to get away with it by catching up through superior colleges and universities, but those are increasingly being watered down by the egalitarian but flawed ideology that maintains everyone should go to college and is entitled to a passing grade.
Sanders’ answer to what ails American education is to throw money at it. Pay teachers everywhere a starting salary of $60,000 a year, regardless of the differences in cost of living. Make college tuition-free. Provide all students — regardless of how much their parents earn — with free meals because we don’t want to stigmatize any poor child by giving them charity.
And all of this, says Sanders, will produce the best public schools and teachers in the world. How would he know that’s true without the objective gauge provided by the standardized tests he wants to abolish? We guess he’d just tell us it’s so.
Tim Kalich
Editor and Publisher
Greenwood Commonwealth
