Shortly after bombing an airstrip in Syria, Donald Trump addressed the American people with a short speech clearly written for him, since he spoke with the awkwardness  of a third-grader delivering a book report on a book he hadn’t read. He spoke about his horror at seeing the gruesome footage of children and infants gassed in the Sarin attack launched by Assad. He spoke of innocent babies, “children of God” killed in a brutal and horrific manner. One cannot fault the words.

But here is my question: Where was your horror, Mr. President when a three year old Syrian boy, Alan Kurdi, washed up dead on the shores of a Turkish beach because his parents were fleeing the nightmare of war and trying to make it to Canada? The family members were in a small inflatable boat which capsized; Alan’s mother and brother also drowned. Do you know, Mr. President, that Alan’s father, Abdullah Kurdi pleaded with the world to accept Syrian refugees? Do you know that he said, “We ask just for a little bit of sympathy from you?” Did that not move you at all? And what about the thousands and thousands of Syrian refugees who you have closed America’s doors to? Apparently the horrors that they are trying to escape don’t horrify you enough. No matter who wrote the words for you that you spoke to the country, they ring hollow.

And then there is this. House Resolution 69, which passed along strict party lines, has opened up 76 million acres of the Alaskan Wildlife Refuge to the most indiscriminate and brutal hunting imaginable. Hibernating bears can be killed, wolves can be slaughtered in their dens with their pups. Coyotes can be shot on sight. Grizzlies can be hunted and shot from helicopters. Animals can be killed with steel-jawed leg hold traps and neck snares. 76 million acres, which are hardly a refuge now, will become a vast killing field. To be fair, Mr. President, you did not initiate that legislation. That was done by Rep. Don Young (R) of Alaska. But you signed it. You could have vetoed it. But you signed it.

Since you invoked the name of God in your brief statement following the bombing, let me offer you a verse from the Bible, a book you might want to read someday. It’s from Matthew 26:40. Jesus said to his disciples, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it to me.”