DeSantis, woke, bias; Sunshine State; Brightline stop; freedom to die pain-free; lunacy

Weather beats freeze on freedom in sunny Florida

Gov. Ron DeSantis and many others say the influx of people moving to Florida is for the "freedom" that one achieves as a resident of Florida.

My wife and I moved to Vero Beach a year ago. We moved here for the warm winter weather. We are now in our early 70s and we didn't want to endure the cold winter weather on the east end of Long Island any longer. However, now we have to endure the policies of DeSantis, Sens. Rick Scott and Marco Rubio, U.S. Rep. Bill Posey and others with whom we strongly disagree. DeSantis is reducing the freedoms of all Floridians with his school and book actions and he is using our tax dollars to ship refugees from other states to "blue" states.

I felt a whole lot freer in New York. Scott wrote a proposal (which he recently amended) to sunset Social Security every five years. Well, at least we are enjoying Florida's fabulous "winter" weather.

Richard Sheehan, Vero Beach

Time to take advantage of Brightline project

Alas, people are thinking: "What is the Treasure Coast getting out of the Brightline project besides costly lawsuits and fast trains whizzing by?"

It's time to move forward and reap some benefits from this terrific project. Let's get with the times, use mass transit and help our senior citizens avoid interstate driving at 70 mph.

The Treasure Coast's regional airports and high-speed railroad are perfect together, creating jobs and opportunities, not to mention improving the quality of life. If you use air conditioning to cool your home, you should be in favor of the technology of traveling with high-speed rail.

Tom Allen, Vero Beach

Free Florida? Add freedom to die without pain

My mother was a devout Christian and a lifelong Republican. By day, she worked in the service of America’s Armed Forces; by night, she put herself through college, eventually earning her MBA. Later in life, she received a cancer diagnosis, which she fought valiantly. When the treatments stopped working, she enrolled in hospice with no fear of death, but with one request: “No more pain.”

For weeks, she screamed in pain, crying out for Jesus to help her, until she died in my arms. Hospice did all they could, but they couldn’t make her comfortable. If only she had the option to choose Medical Aid in Dying (MAiD), she could have died with the same self-determination with which she lived.

MAiD allows mentally capable, terminally ill adults with six-month prognoses to live to receive medication to hasten their impending deaths if their suffering becomes unbearable. Senate Minority Leader Lauren Book and House Rep. Daryl Campbell have filed MAiD bills (Senate Bill 864 and House Bill 1231, respectively) to give qualified Floridians the legal right to request this end-of-life option. The bill contains strong safeguards to protect vulnerable patients from abuse and coercion. No health care provider can be forced to participate in MAiD, and patients can change their minds at any point in the process. Death certificates must list the underlying terminal disease as the cause of death.

The rights to self-determination, freedom of religion and bodily autonomy are sacred in American society. In the great state of Florida, we have “health care freedom” ― the liberty to decide whether certain health care choices are right for ourselves, in accordance with our own values and beliefs.

Our governor must expand Florida’s health care freedoms to include a Medical Aid in Dying option, so that dying people don’t have to suffer if their pain cannot be adequately palliated.

Roberta Goode, Palm City

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Let's wake up to indoctrination governor

When I attended grade school in Massachusetts many years ago, out of the entire school, there was only one Black kid attending. Somehow, he got a nickname: Chico.

On occasion, we would pass in the halls and nod or say hi; basically friendly and respectful responses. Chico, to my knowledge, was never mistreated in any way; and I always mindfully gave him a pat on the back for his courage and stamina to seek an education at this school.

I guess I must have been indoctrinated by my parents with the live-and-let-live attitude. That is probably why I never heard of "woke" until Gov. Ron DeSantis made the statement: "Florida is where WOKE comes to die."

I guess I was colorblind all these years!

This woke terminology is part of our history and should remain so. Everyone can read books, inform THEMSELVES and indoctrinate THEMSELVES, instead of bowing to the ideologies of one man who may have ulterior motives. So it appears now, if one is INDOCTRINATED by taking on the ideologies of DeSantis, you become a free Floridian?

Ain't it great? You don't have to think for yourself anymore! And it's possible for you to land a $699,000 job at some university with no experience.

As I write this, the local news station says DeSantis' laws have removed several more books from the shelves. This type of legislation should always be up to the voting public, not a handful of legislators following the power trail.

DeSantis is a bad apple for Floridians and will be a rotten apple if the people are unlucky enough to have him as president of our country. It's time DeSantis woke up!

Mike Hampson, Port St. Lucie

Can't find Democrats who rise to level of 'lunacy'?

Challenge accepted: On Feb. 28 letter writer Conrad deFiebre dared right-wing readers to name a few Democratic officeholders who rise to levels of lunacy.

I'm an independent, but up for the challenge.

A few past officeholders were Hillary Clinton (bogus claim about being under sniper fire during a trip to Bosnia); Bill Clinton ("I did not have sex with that woman."); Barack Obama ("If you like your doctor ... "),

Some present "normal" ones include Richard Blumenthal (serving in Vietnam); Eric Swalwell ("I didn't do anything wrong" with a suspected Chinese spy.); Adam Schiff (direct evidence of Russian collusion); Alejandro Mayorkas ("The border is secure."); Kamala Harris ("We've been to the border, and I haven't been to Europe."); Karine Jean-Pierre (stammering with so many "ahs" you can't keep count).

But the winner is: our president with his plethora of falsity. Joe Biden, from claiming he graduated with three undergraduate degrees and in the top half of his class in law school to his repeatedly telling the Amtrak conductor story. Then his saying Hunter Biden is the smartest person he knows; you won't get COVID if you have the vaccine; the economy is not his fault. I could go on, but I think I've given a few examples of the "sanity" our present administration displays almost daily.

Jacki Sadowski, Port St. Lucie

Yes, Democrats have fair share of embarrassments, too

In response to letter writer Conrad deFiebre and his request and challenge to right-wingers to name some Democrats showing signs of lunacy: He makes it too easy.

I think Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is certifiable. Ilhan Omar? She seems like a card-carrying anti-Semite along with Rashida Tlaib. Joe Biden is a plagiarizer. How about Carolyn Maloney, Kaiali'i Kahele and Stacey Abrams, the election denier?

Then there's Hillary Clinton (even though she isn't in office), another election denier, and Maxine Waters. There are many more.

David Brown, Port St. Lucie

Article on DeSantis paints him in unfair light

In the March 6 newspaper, the lead story on Gov. Ron DeSantis provides a vivid example of why confidence in the press has hit all-time lows.

The first paragraph sets up the article by noting that policy moves will "strike directly at Floridians" (Oh no!). The article then discusses many of the proposals with the usual bias, but the topper is when it notes how Black Floridians have been a "frequent focus" of presumably prejudicial policies.

Of course, the DeSantis and Republican desire to expand school choice, strongly supported by Black and low-income Floridians, would be one of those harmful policies. Is the support of kids rather than teacher's unions harmful to Blacks?

Then the article notes Al Sharpton's protest of the rejection of the extreme elements in the AP African studies course such as "queer theory" and critical race theory, turning February, in Sharpton's view, into "Erase Black History Month." That is a grotesquely unfair charge and the article ignores the reasons behind the rejection of the AP course, leaving an uninformed reader with a strong negative reaction.

I don't believe this is by mistake. Nor do I believe the title of the article, "DeSantis demands, lawmakers comply," is anything other than a deliberate, yet subtle, effort to tilt the reader to a negative opinion of the governor. No surprise here.

Harold A. Ofstie, Vero Beach

DeSantis lacks leadership on issues critical to Floridians

I find it very interesting Gov. Ron DeSantis finds it very important to address subjective issues like “wokeness” and library book “bans” and ignore objective and real issues like home insurance and electric rates.

Is he really looking out for all the people of Florida or just those who think like him? Good government should protect people from things out of and beyond their control, not tell them what or how to think.

Instead of giving parents and citizens the freedom to make decisions on their own, he is trying to dictate the choices they have. It does not sound like freedom to me.

Drumming up fear on subjective issues is not real leadership. When was the last time some leader did that?

Jack Siplak, Vero Beach

Florida's proposed blogger registry reminiscent of Castro

We have a Florida Republican legislator or legislators proposing registration of bloggers of the governor and Cabinet. That conjures in me memories and nightmares of firing squads killing anti-Castro Cubans after he took over in the late 1950s.

When I was 17 and a high school senior, I first saw that on a TV news special about him in 1960 with films showing his opponents catapulted backward, into a ditch, dead from the those firing squad bullets. That memory has haunted me ever since. How did Fidel Castro root out his opponents? Were they writers (bloggers) such as myself? Who else?

Now a registry? OMG!

RIchard Silvestri, Fort Pierce

Why won't leaders stand up to ominous Ron-Don Party?

So, when does the book burning begin?

The Florida governor has already started the process by removing school library books, targeting groups such as school boards who are “trying to indoctrinate our children,” LGBTQs, critical race theorists (and we know who they represent) and migrants.

It sure seems like 1930s Germany! The Charlottesville march in 2017 reinstated Jews as a target group, so our governor doesn’t have to add them, but would he when he’s running for president? Or he could just say: “There are nice people on both sides.”

Are there any reasonable Republican Florida lawmakers who will stand up and say “Enough!”? And why are Florida Democrats so quiet? Why aren’t they trying to stand up to the Ron DeSantis sheep who will say and legislate everything he wants, just like Donald Trump’s MAGA Republicans? Between DeSantis and Trump, we now have a Ron-Don Republican party. Yikes!

Anne Brakman, Vero Beach

DeSantis practices what he preaches

I will say this about our governor: He practices what he preaches: INDOCTRINATION.

He preaches it over and over again. The woke are indoctrinating our children, he says.

I cannot help but notice in many organizations Ron DeSantis is replacing officials with “faith-based leadership.” There is indoctrination going on, and it is being executed by the governor of Florida.

The Republican Party has lost the past seven out of eight presidential popular votes. DeSantis and the Republicans know they don’t have a winning message for the voters, so they have to start indoctrinating people to see things their way.

This country was literally founded on freedom of religion. The Republican Party appears no longer interested in freedom of religion or democracy. Look no further than what DeSantis has done in Florida and Donald Trump's attempted coup.

Don Whisman, Stuart

Masses' ignorance fuels problems in nation

The woke movement is seriously misnamed. The majority of Americans are unawoke.

The ineptness of media sources not telling the truth about how we are being misled has led to the ignorance of the masses.

Those in power, yes, the president, vice president and their inept appointees are destroying what our founding fathers did to make this the greatest country ever.

Wake up, America, before it’s too late!

Bob Hall, Vero Beach

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: DeSantis, woke, bias; Sunshine State; Brightline stop; lunacy list