Blame Biden for border, fentanyl woes, inflation; life in Florida; future of DeSantis

Where is outrage over deaths from fentanyl, porous border?

During the war in Vietnam, 58,220 U.S. soldiers died, and that was spread over about 15 years. Demonstrators were out in force nationwide during that time to end the war.

In 2021 alone, 80,816 people died from drug overdoses — most from fentanyl. It is the greatest killer of adults from ages 18 to 45. In other words, we’ve had more deaths from fentanyl in one year than we had war dead from Vietnam. Yet we don’t hear about it.

Somehow, the current administration has diverted attention from the southwest border. An estimated 4 million illegal immigrants have come across the border; hundreds have died on the way, hundreds of thousands of women have been violated, an untold number of children have been sold into the sex trade, the cartels are making billions of dollars, more than 100 terrorists have been caught (How many made it across?), and of course, there’s the fentanyl.

This human and financial disaster could have been averted by following the policies of the former administration.

Instead of solving the problem, this administration has turned it into a political football. This is not a game. It’s people’s lives.

Tom Miller, Vero Beach

New word from Dictonary.com describes state of Florida

I am no longer at a loss for how to describe what's happening to Florida.

Thanks to the article you published regarding Dictionary.com's addition of 300 new words and more than 1,200 new and revised definitions, I now have a word that describes what Florida is becoming thanks to our galivanting, finger-pointing, pontificating governor: Hellscape!

How better to describe an environment where there is freedom of speech, but only if what's being spoken or espoused agrees with his world view? Where inclusivity and diversity have become negative attributes? Where ridicule and harassment have become commonplace and acceptable?

Here's hoping people and the governor come to their senses and realize where we are headed, or pretty soon Florida will just become known as Paradise Lost.

Julie Eisdorfer, Vero Beach

Six-week abortion rule will harm lives, not stop the procedure

If the Florida Legislature’s goals are to save lives and end abortion, they should reconsider.

Senate Bill 300 and its House companion will cause more deaths than you can imagine. It will not end abortion in Florida. It will only make safe, legal, sometimes life-saving abortions impossible. Both my grandmothers, born in the 1800s, had abortions.

It was illegal then, too. But they had them. Under difficult circumstances. At home. With their children hidden behind curtains listening. With husbands or friends administering chloroform, from which they could have died, leaving their many young children orphans.

In the late 1960s, I had occasion to pursue an abortion. In a back alley. At an exorbitant cost. Unsafe. Illegal. Fearful, I chose a loveless marriage instead.

Those are the consequences when medical abortions are deemed criminal.

As a minister in past years, I have counseled women who were desperate to have a child, only to learn the fetuses had died within their wombs. Being forced to carry dead fetuses to term is a death sentence for those women.

In my letters to lawmakers, I don’t mention the facts these bills usurp body autonomy from half the population. Or that, if passed, the bills would set the United States back more than 50 years. Or that abortion bans reek of misogyny, authoritarian overreach and put our nation in the company of heartless regimes like Iran rather than the free democratic governments of the west. It need not be stated, because it’s common knowledge that public support is overwhelmingly in favor of keeping abortion safe and legal IN BOTH PARTIES.

If passed, this six-week abortion ban will have far-reaching, tragically sad outcomes for many women and their families.

Passage should be reconsidered.

Felicia Bruce, Fort Pierce

DeSantis best governor, but he can't win White House

There is no doubt in my mind Ron DeSantis is the best governor in all 50 states, but that doesn’t mean I want him to run for president.

I love his commonsense and traditional approach he takes with his policies.

DeSantis is a champion when it comes to parental rights, stopping the sexualization of our children and making sure books in school are age appropriate.

He wants to keep critical race theory out of school, as parts seem to teach hate for our country and white people.

I also agree with him that biological men shouldn’t be playing women sports.

DeSantis supports legal, not illegal, immigration.

His action during the pandemic separated him from most governors. He supported the idea that people should  make up their own minds when it comes to mask wearing or getting the vaccine. Thus, Florida earned the label of the Free State of Florida, which resulted in thousands moving to Florida.

But with all that being said, I hope DeSantis will complete the four years of governor he was elected to do just a few months ago. I can’t think of another who could take his place and be as effective.

Some are urging DeSantis to run for president because he has less baggage than Donald Trump, but the media will spin all his accomplishments.

His parental rights bill the media will report as the "don’t say gay" bill.

They will also come after him for his stand on Disney, elimination of Advanced Placement Black history course, firing of a prosecutor who didn’t follow the law, banning sexually explicit books in schools, and changes he made at New College.

They will label him a homophobe, a racist and an authoritarian.

So I urge DeSantis not to run for president. I don’t think he can win.

Betsy DiBenedetto, Vero Beach

Anything today sound like Germany of 1930s?

In 1933, Germany took the abominable road leading from democracy to dictatorship by appointing Adolf Hitler as its chancellor, whose role evolved into dictator.

He converted Germany by manipulating its democratic political system into a Nazi-controlled dictatorship. He persuaded his cabinet of lackeys to terminate individual freedoms, including freedom of speech, freedom of the press and the right to assemble. Hitler was an anti-intellectual and felt any child’s education must be subordinate to his opinion. He had very conservative views about sexuality and was homophobic.

Does any of this sound familiar 90 years later? If so, vote like your life depends on it ― because it does!

Carolyn Chabora, Palm City

Struck by fleeing driver, victims hope for best

At approximately 4:40 p.m. March 11, my husband and I were broadsided by a hit-and-run white truck (Ford F-150 XLT).

We saw the vehicle totally cross the double-yellow line into our lane and my husband was forced to veer off the road and onto the sidewalk, but the truck hit us anyway, causing damage to the left side of the car.

The driver of the truck never stopped, but we are left to suffer the consequences of his carelessness and cowardly behavior.

We probably will have to pay higher insurance premiums, pay for a rental car while the repairs are done and endure the inconvenience just because the driver of the truck refused to do the right thing and sped away, as witnessed by two other drivers following us, who stopped to check on us.

While we both feel shaken and very upset and angry, we certainly hope that there will not be any future medical issues for either one of us.Joan Roth, Sebastian

Blame Biden administration for financial losses

We had inflation at a high rate last year and it continued this year but at a lower rate. In its zeal to slow the inflation rate, this administration, through the Federal Reserve, started to increase interest rates, which is understandable.

When you increase the interest rate, it devalues all bonds, including those of the government, which are mostly held by banks throughout the world. As the value goes down, it decreases the capital a bank has because it has a paper loss on the bonds, which have been devalued.

Fearing a backlash by the voters against this administration, it constantly pressured the Federal Reserve to do something about the inflation and the only thing the Fed can do is increase rates. It did so rapidly at the urging of this administration that the liquidity of the banks was rapidly diminished, causing some to fail and putting others in trouble. This likely will lead to more bank runs and the markets to crash.

All for the sake of votes.

Now there are millions who have lost billions, maybe trillions, in investment worth, uninsured bank deposits and bond losses all caused by politics of this administration.

Edward Marasi, Port St. Lucie

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Biden and border, fentanyl; DeSantis affects Florida, nation; hit, run