Trump will claim peacemaker, regardless

Hopefully, Russian President Putin is getting serious about ending his war with Ukraine. Putin is motivated to the peace table purely from the overwhelming strength, experience, preparedness and determination of NATO military leaders who completely understand the dark history of Putin and know his word can never be trusted.

NATO also understands that the other real pressure on Putin is internal — the parents of young Russian soldiers dying for Putin’s ego and evil aggressiveness, which is the main reason now for any serious peace talks.

However, our president, whom Putin has used as a cheap drum set, will surely make another claim of peacemaker regardless of the outcome, to add to his preelection wind and his postelection brilliant cabinet choices.

E. MARTIN, PEACHTREE CITY

Guns have changed, and so must regulations

I grew up on a farm in Michigan. Guns were used to hunt, not kill people. And never, ever included assault rifles.

In my 30-plus years in Michigan as an assistant prosecutor, judge and assistant attorney general, I never saw one unjustly accused of using an AK-47 or other assault weapon. And today, it’s not just assault rifles; it’s every gun imaginable.

In today’s world, it’s not just innocent bystanders. I would fear for the safety of my son or daughter if they were a police officer. A simple traffic stop could result in someone shooting the officer. My child. Can we please do something about guns?

DAVID A. HOORT, MABLETON

Public syllabuses may pose problems

The University System of Georgia will soon require all course syllabuses to be made publicly available, which may pose some problems.

For example, any serious religion course on the Old Testament will include lectures on the authorship of Torah, the first five books (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy). Almost all biblical scholars today accept some version of the Documentary Hypothesis, which says that a group of authors wrote the Torah over several hundred years, finishing it in about the sixth century BCE.

A fundamentalist seeing this in a syllabus may contend that the university system is teaching a lie since everyone knows that Moses wrote Torah. Then the question will be whether the university system sticks to correct scholarship or succumbs to public pressure.

LLOYD E. FLEMING, DULUTH

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