Stop promoting DeSantis with flattering descriptions

We’re seeing inaccurate, uncritical usage of the words like “conservative firebrand” to describe Gov. Ron DeSantis admiringly in the press (TC Palm, Feb. 7: “GOP-led Florida Legislature opens session to fix flaws in weapons used by DeSantis”).

We’d like to challenge that. There’s nothing “conservative” or small government about the mass banning of books, discriminating against LGBTQ people, attacking and interfering with businesses like Disney that speak their minds, pulling stunts using public funds to score political points while using brown peoples’ lives as pawns, taking over the boards of colleges, and more.

The latest, to quote a friend in the case of the Disney brouhaha the governor created: “DeSantis would now control the appointees that oversee Disney's theme parks. If Disney opposes DeSantis or does something DeSantis dislikes, he can punish them by denying critical services or increasing taxes. People need to wake up to what he's doing.”

Normalizing this type of behavior in a leader uncritically by using words like “conservative firebrand” is dangerous and has many warning parallels in history ― all authoritarian or fascist.

Words have power. Our press needs to choose them more carefully and honestly before our America ends up like Viktor Orban’s Hungary or worse — the opposite of freedom.

DeSantis' actions make us ashamed he’s in charge of our state. It would be regretful for many more people if he were ever allowed to ascend to higher office.

Scott Francis, Vero Beach
 

First Amendment provides freedom from religion, too

In reference to a letter Feb. 5, I have a few thoughts:

It's true, the United States was the first nation in history to build its society on the concept of separation of church and state.

Still, the writer seems to have skewed the Founding Fathers' words and concepts. The suggestion our country was founded on the concept of "freedom of religion," not "freedom from religion," missed the whole idea of what freedom actually means.

It does NOT mean that our government, be it local, state or national, has the right to foist certain religious habits or practices onto those who would prefer not to participate in such a display or hear such words at a public meeting or forum. 

It DOES mean that we, as U.S. citizens, can expect our freedom "from" certain coercions, be they religiously oriented or otherwise, will be respected.

In this current absolute control and right-wing based government of DeSantis Florida, one might expect this sort of theory, but just because one wishes something to be true does not make it a viable argument.

I enjoy my "freedom from religion" and don't want to see that freedom eroded by religious fanatics who want to foist their own religious views onto the rest of us. The recent behavior of certain citizens at the Stuart City Commission is just another example of the coercive spirit of today's right wing religious zealots who require "my way or the highway," just like their "hero," the disgraced former president, who, by the way, took advantage of these folks who were snookered and used by him. His lifelong behaviors certainly indicate he is definitely not a Christian.

Sharon E. Garland, Hobe Sound

 

Weaponizing governor's office to attack opponents wrong

As Ron DeSantis marches Florida off to communism, I thought I would point out a few things the governor has done that would make Vladimir Lenin proud.

DeSantis fired an elected official because he dared to have different politics. DeSantis punished the largest private employer in the state because it has different politics. The bookshelves at some public schools have been stripped for fear the books don't agree with DeSantis’ politics. DeSantis is attempting to strip the liquor licenses of businesses that do not agree with his politics.

DeSantis has weaponized the office of the governor to go after folks who dare to disagree with him. The governor is using the power of the governor's office to suppress free speech in the state of Florida.

That seems like communism to me.

Don Whisman, Stuart

 

Deliberately creating polarization troubling

Columnist John Wood, Jr. wrote: “The worst of all catastrophes in our society is the social and political polarization that divides Americans.” 

Some may quibble over the suggestion our divisive political polarization is the “worst catastrophe” facing us, but it’s a serious issue that impedes the resolution of other existential problems, including mass shootings, immigration and global warming.

Wood is correct to suggest political polarization has weakened those federal institutions on which we depend to maintain a strong, free and impartial democracy. The erosion of trust that’s weakened the foundations of these institutions has its origins in, as Wood notes, “the spread … and acceptance of misinformation that deepens our divisions and endangers lives” (emphasis added). 

As a moderate independent, I’m an equal opportunity critic who tries to consider issues dispassionately from multiple perspectives.  When emotions enter politics, political extremists cleverly inflame them, fanning passions in shameful attempts to burn opponents to cinders.  Rational thinking and objective analysis is suspended. 

This burn-or-be-burned behavior suggests, as an example, Gov. Ron DeSantis’ strategy to turn up the heat on two cultural issues sparked by conservative activists: race and gender. It’s another shameful strategy because its intent is to ignite conservative voters’ emotions by humiliating two particular demographics — African Americans and LGBTQ individuals — while suppressing the right to free speech in our public schools and colleges and universities. 

Consider comments made by Manny Diaz Jr., Florida's commissioner of education, who charges the College Board’s impending release of an Advanced Placement African American Studies course is “filled with Critical Race Theory (CRT) and other obvious violations of Florida law.”

While CRT is an emotional, red-meat issue to the MAGA crowd, Diaz initially offered no specific examples why the governor opposes the AP course. Thoughtful Floridians know why, and it discredits our state government.

Cray Little, Vero Beach


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George Santos and the Case of the Missing $365,000

Representative George Santos’s failure to account for hundreds of thousands of dollars in spending is part of a pattern of irregularities in the way his campaign handled its finances.

Santos has spent his campaign money in plenty of conspicuous ways, from lavish hotel stays in Las Vegas and Palm Beach, Fla., to an unusual slew of payments for exactly $199.99 — two cents below the threshold where receipts would be required.

But deep within Santos’s campaign filings, The New York Times found another eye-catching number: $365,399.08 in unexplained spending, with no record of where it went or for what purpose.

Several donors said in interviews that the Santos campaign or associated groups misrepresented how much they gave. Campaign finance documents show discrepancies between what the Santos campaign reported having spent and what recipients, such as other Republican candidates, reported having been given.

When the campaign has amended its filings, as it has 36 times, some payments have gone up or simply disappeared. And though other New York candidates list $26,000 in donations from Santos, the contributions do not appear in his filings at all, The Times’s analysis showed.

Bill McGinley, a lawyer for one of the donors and a former general counsel to the National Republican Senatorial Committee, examined some of Santos’s contribution reports and said they were “all over the place and do not make any sense.”

• House Committees: Santos said that he would temporarily recuse himself from sitting on congressional committees as he faces multiple investigations over his lies.
• The Case of the Missing $365,000: Santos’s failure to account for hundreds of thousands of dollars in spending is part of a pattern of irregularities in the way he handled his campaign finances.
• Sexual Harassment Accusation: A prospective congressional aide has accused Santos of ethics violations and sexual harassment, according to a letter the man sent to the House Ethics Committee.
• Santos’s Treasurer Resigns: The resignation of Nancy Marks, which was shrouded in confusion and mystery, could exacerbate the congressman’s financial troubles.

George Santos and the Case of the Missing $365,000 - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

Grace Ashford, Alexandra Berzon, Ken Bensinger and Alyce McFadden