By Donald A. Collins | 2 January 2025
Church and State
The December 30, Washington Post carried excellent stories about the remarkable life of Jimmy Carter who died in his modest Plains, Georgia home on December 29.
His presidency accomplished much and much to acknowledge in his post presidency, even more about this remarkable human being.
His record of accomplishments as President were well recorded in this article from the post which you can read in full here.
He spent 89 seconds inside a nuclear reactor in meltdown. Elvis Presley once called him but was too high for the president to understand him.
Here are other facts about Jimmy Carter that may surprise you: https://t.co/6kd6kfbQ3N pic.twitter.com/GLw4miPcXO
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) December 30, 2024
I found an amazing story about a commitment by the Carter Persistency which illuminated his spirit of forgiveness and to justice which you can read here.
The Carters made a wrongfully convicted killer Amy’s White House nanny – The Washington Post https://t.co/9DVAFKsrW2
— Shane Worth @tatzanx@universeodon.com (@tatzanx) December 30, 2024
He was unlucky and brought down by high inflation and the 1979 Iran hostage crisis which could not be fixed.
However, Carter’s death offers us a sharp contrast to Trump and is brought into full focus by Carter’s record.
Over the past year or so I have been writing a series of opinion pieces for a wonderful website known as www.churchandstate.org.uk.
In those pieces, I have tried to elucidate problems that I considered important for us to recognize and begin to correct.
I was therefore particularly pleased to read in the December 30 Washington Post publication of letters which raised points, which I have covered in part, but were briefly and succinctly reiterated by the letter writers.
Let me begin, bye simply listing the letters that I considered particularly timely and underlying the most serious matters which now must be addressed, but likely will not be adequately addressed by Trump, and his oncoming appointed officials
I did not attempt to cover all subjects, but you can read about two of them in full here.
One: The most important event in 2024 was the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the Chevron deference doctrine. The conservative majority defied precedent once again by declaring that the judicial branch no longer defers to the established rulemaking authority of federal agencies when interpreting the law. Will this interpretation be consistently applied to the executive branch? The decision opened a Pandora’s box of confusion that will likely have consequences for generations. Goodbye to judicial restraint, certainty, and perhaps to the legitimacy of the courts and agencies, as well.
Jeff Riordan, Lynnwood, Washington
In short, the Court now wants jurists instead of experts in long standing bureaus to decide!
This needs legislation and Presidential action which the MAGA GOP is unlikely to provide.
Two: For me, wildfires in the Northeast and New England stand out. To see wildfires on the border of New York and New Jersey was mind-boggling. Yet another reminder that climate change is here, damaging our only home planet. Climate refugees’ cross borders in attempts to find habitable places to live, fleeing places where global warming has wrecked both the landscape and civilized society. There is daily proof that humans are an invasive species and that we won’t stop wrecking the planet because the wealthy can profit from its destruction.
Andrea Avni, Vashon Island, Washington
World leaders keep ignoring the implications of climate change, but hope for reduction in fossil fuel with the rise of EVs and changing human consumptions to more plant based food plus use of safe nuclear energy could safe us if human numbers can decline, this latter hope not great until irrecoverable damage has been done.
We asked readers what events other than the presidential election they thought the year will remembered for. These are some of their answers. https://t.co/Z5W5mR3mb4
— Washington Post Opinions (@PostOpinions) December 29, 2024
Presidencies are often determined by luck which so far helped Trump to a 2nd term but may prove transitory.
To my readers, I would like to express thanks for your responses which have been appreciated and generous in their comments, but this year the number of my pieces will decline, but hopefully action not for readability and suggested actions.
Former US Navy officer, banker and venture capitalist, Donald A. Collins, a free lance writer living in Washington, DC, has spent over 50 years working for women’s reproductive health as a board member and/or officer of numerous family planning organizations including Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Guttmacher Institute, Family Health International and Ipas. Yale under graduate, NYU MBA. He is the author of “From the Dissident Left: A Collection of Essays 2004-2013”, “Trump Becoming Macbeth: Will our democracy survive?”, “We Humans Overwhelm Our Earth: 11 or 2 Billion by 2100?”, “What Can Be Done Now to Save Habitable Life on Planet Earth?”, “Vote”, “Can Homo Sapiens Survive?”, “Will Choice and Democracy Win?”, “Can Our U.S. Survive 8 Plus Billion of Us”, “Economic Growth: A Cancer on all Earthly Life”, “On the Precipice of Political Disaster in 2024”, “Democracy at Red State Risk”, “Does Trump Go to Jail or to The Oval Office?” and “Trump: Pardon or Punish?: The Nixon Precedence Was Not A Trump Coup Denied!”.“What Can Be Done Now to Save Habitable Life on Planet Earth?”: https://t.co/fHuh0CG6JD
“We Humans Overwhelm Our Earth: 11 or 2 Billion by 2100?”: https://t.co/TA4j7cp1tE
“From the Dissident Left: A Collection of Essays 2004-2013”: https://t.co/lkC2t3E1A9 pic.twitter.com/bQsL2mLBcO— Church and State (@ChurchAndStateN) November 1, 2021
The Last Word: Jimmy Carter
Remembering Jimmy Carter, a look at the life of the 39th US President
Remembering the extraordinary life of former President Jimmy Carter
Be sure to ‘like’ us on Facebook
