Brightline bad; Aldean racist? Left wrong on book ban; GOP strategy; Comer probe | Letters

Brightline troublesome for years, and now ...

In May 2014, approximately 33 people from Brevard to Broward counties met in Martin County to talk about the threats “All Aboard Florida” (Brightline) would bring to our region. A number of boaters and marina owners were there, and it was the first time some of us heard about the bridge issues on the St. Lucie and New rivers.

At least two studies for high-speed rail in Florida before Brightline was announced determined the Florida East Coast rail route was the worst option. Conducted for the Florida High Speed Rail Authority and National Governors Association, both determined from a cost and safety standpoint, running along Interstate 95 or Florida's Turnpike would be better, with fewer crossings and bridges.

A major flaw for the FEC/Brightline route has always been the 100-year-old single-track St. Lucie River bridge that blocks boats when closed for a train to pass. Everyone, including the corporations ― Fortress Investment Group, FEC, Brightline ― knew from the start the bridge would require freight trains to pull over, blocking many streets while passenger trains passed by. The cost to replace the bridge would be far more than $100 million, but Brightline was done on the cheap.

We knew trains going 110 mph over hundreds of grade crossings and unfenced stretches of track and blocking boaters for hours would be a disaster. Why the hand-wringing now? This isn’t the fault of our local elected officials not doing their jobs. We were told, “We own the tracks; we can do what we want” by Fortress and now that more than 90 people have died (no surprise), they want the taxpayers to make it safer.

As the mayor of Tequesta said in 2015: “How ironic our towns were created because of the train and now they’ll be destroyed by it!”

It’s wrong and must stop.

Susan Mehiel, Vero Beach

So now they're saying Jason Aldean is a racist?

Well, it didn't take long for the naysayers to determine that country singer Jason Aldean is a racist.

After all, it's certainly racist to protect an old lady from a carjacking; to arrest a criminal who robbed a liquor store; or fine someone who desecrates our country's flag.

To truly promote racism is not only terrible, but also un-American. Our country was founded on fairness, equality and individual liberty. Let's keep it that way.

Ray Mancari, Vero Beach

Banned books? Vandalism? Left sends wrong messsages

I’d like to comment on several recent letters:

One gentleman wrote that keeping some books out of the hands of children isn’t a problem “unless a drag queen blasts into an elementary school classroom and beats eight kids to death with a copy of 'To Kill a Mockingbird' ... "

Although he was apparently going for a laugh, it’s only funny if you have your facts straight and this is wrong on so many levels. For one, “TKAM" was not “banned" in Florida, and is required reading for eighth-graders. It was falsely put on a “banned books” list, along with other titles, the left was circulating to disparage Gov. Ron DeSantis.

As a retired teacher, I don’t find it one bit funny that some people think that age-appropriateness in school reading material doesn’t matter. Some of the books deemed inappropriate for younger children were filled with highly sexualized images and language. It actually would be better to be hit over the head with one of them than to have these images seared into innocent young minds.

Why is DeSantis and his administration taking such heat for protecting our young children? Shouldn’t everyone be in favor of this?

The second letter was from a woman stating that if you have a Biden sticker on your car, your car will be damaged, whereas if you have a Trump sticker, no one on the left would do such a thing.

I’d like to tell her quite firmly this is the exact opposite of reality. The left turns the tables on you and accuses you of what it has done or would like to do. I can tell you that back in Pennsylvania during the election, it was far safer to slap a Biden sticker on your Prius than a Trump sticker on anything else.

The one thing these two letters has proven is how good the left is at distraction and disinformation.

Patricia Perrone, Stuart

Is this why Republicans need so many think tanks?

Why does the current Republican Party, once the home of McCarthyism and the infamous John Birch Society, need quite so many so-called "think tanks?"

The Heritage Foundation, the American Enterprise Institute, the Free Congress Foundation, the Ethics and Public Policy Center, Freedom Works, the Cato Institute, The Hudson Institute or the Federalist Foundation, to name but just a few.

Is the Republican Party so bereft of ideas it must depend upon these unelected mercenaries in its search for ways that would improve the quality of life of all its constituents? Dream on.

Every Republican administration going back to Richard Nixon’s has cost the American taxpayer billions of dollars as a direct result of its self-serving lies:

• Richard Nixon’s Watergate scandal.

• Ronald Reagan’s Iran-Contra scandal.

• George H.W. Bush’s Silverado Savings and Loan scandal.

• George W. Bush’s weapons of mass destruction lie that led us into war with Iraq, where at least a quarter of a million souls died.

And Donald Trump, the disgraced, twice-impeached, twice-indicted Republican president has lied that he won the 2020 presidential election, when he actually lost it by around 8 million votes. His saga continues; stay tuned.

Perhaps the Republican Party needs all these think tanks to keep its leaders out of prison.

Joan Parvin, Jensen Beach

Will Comer uncover greatest scandal ever?

Based on the Durham Report, the FBI knew the Steele dossier was phony before President Donald Trump was elected in 2016. Then he was impeached on false pretenses, making the Mueller investigation nothing but a fishing expedition. The Durham report named Hillary Clinton's campaign as paying for the dossier.

Dirty politics? Wait, it gets worse.

Prior to the presidential election of 2020, the FBI possessed and verified the authenticity of the Hunter Biden laptop. The laptop implicated Hunter and others (including “the Big Guy”) in various influence-peddling schemes. The New York Post broke the story, and Tony Bobulinski (Hunter’s former partner) verified it on Fox News. But the FBI buried the matter, and other news entities ignored the story completely.

Since the election, everyone knows about the laptop; even the New York Times admits it’s authentic. Based on subsequently released Twitter files and interviews with Mark Zuckerberg, we now know that prior to the election, FBI officials met with social media companies to “warn” them about possible “Russian misinformation” about Hunter Biden. It certainly appears that someone wanted the information on the laptop covered up before the election.

Recently, the House Oversight Committee, chaired by Rep. James Comer, has uncovered dozens of LLCs and bank accounts through which, it says, members of the Biden family have received multiple millions of dollars. Despite foot dragging by the Department of Justice and the FBI, Comer may uncover the greatest scandal in our nation’s history, maybe treason.

Let’s find out the truth. Politics be damned!

Tom Miller, Vero Beach

Slaves benefited from bondage? Are DeSantis, Florida education leaders kidding?

I am an old white lady who taught school for 30 years. Because I love history, I read and read different sides of the same issue and because I am woke, I try to keep an open mind.

In all my years of studying the history of slavery, never have I read any historical accounts where the author made the false, outrageous statement that slaves benefited from slavery as I hear Gov. Ron DeSantis and his foot soldiers in the Florida Department of Education direct our youth to be taught.

I invite DeSantis and those who believe that slaves benefited from slavery to enlighten me. I would like their sources so I can further read for myself on this topic.

I have read about of slaves being whipped at the pleasure of their master, slave families sold separated from their families as property, not children of the same God as slave owners claimed as theirs and claimed to worship. I've heard of raped slaves having to bear their master's children not once, but many times.

I have read where, as in "To Kill a Mockingbird," where an innocent man was guilty just because he was Black, proof that slavery had not ended.

These common practices are not ones that history defined as benefits of slavery for the enslaved. I look forward to reading facts from credible sources that refute what the reading of history has taught me for over 70 years.

Joan Fox, Vero Beach

Governor's military wing evidence of misplaced priorities

Before writing this letter, I was making a list of school supplies the good members of my church are purchasing to help underprivileged kids who live in our community. There are approximately 5,000 elementary schools in the state of Florida.

The Florida State Guard Force proposed by our governor would cost the taxpayers $100 million. If the monies were used to purchase school supplies, that would translate into approximately $20,000 per school. I did a little math, and that means each school could purchase 1,250 reams of notebook paper or 40,000 one-subject spiral-bound notebooks. Further, there would be enough money to purchase 40,000 boxes of 24-count crayons or 40,000 No. 2 pencils, 20,000, three-ring binders (1 inch) and 5,714 three-ring binders (2 inch). You get the point.

It is unconscionable to waste millions of dollars for a so-called “State Guard Force” that could be used to intimidate citizens who may be participating in peaceful protests against governmental actions that are negatively impacting our quality of life. I am sure the governor’s kids have whatever school supplies they need and don’t have to rely on charity for the pencils and paper they need to succeed in learning.

I am a retired senior citizen, living on a fixed budget, and as I shop for school supplies, I will remember Christ’s words: “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”

I think our leadership in the state of Florida may have their priorities a bit confused.

Cecile Scofield, Palm City

Beware constitutional infringement in online safety legislation

The proposed Kids Online Safety Act, while seemingly well intentioned, raises significant concerns about potential infringements on free speech and privacy rights. The bill's vague language and broad scope could lead to undue censorship and surveillance.

The use of child safety as a shield to introduce such measures is disconcerting. While the protection of children online is of utmost importance, it should not be used as a pretext to curtail fundamental freedoms. Stronger competition laws and comprehensive data privacy legislation would more effectively address online safety concerns without undermining our rights.

Jamie Debrecht, Stuart

Re-electing Trump only way to save nation

I remember how, about 40 years ago, the Communist Party had candidates publicly running for offices in New Haven, Connecticut. They never won and, subsequently, faded from view.

Their strategy was to work behind the scenes by overwhelming and lying to minority ethnic groups. They launched a revolution that resulted in the Black Panthers and other far-left organizations having huge demonstrations on the New Haven "Green," committing murders, property damage, etc., just like what is happening today.

The Democratic Party has shifted totally to the left, in my opinion determined to take down America in any way it can. Democrats are attacking freedoms of speech and religion and have taken over the FBI and Department of Justice.  They are injecting the communist philosophy into the justice system, twisting the Constitution into an unrecognizable entity.

Some federal judges have said the FBI has launched an attack on constitutional law. Merrick Garland, the attorney general, has weaponized the DOJ and FBI into a far-left anti-Constitution department. The nation is being destroyed from the top down, and its antagonists are nibbling at the core of our remarkable culture and the fabric of our legal system.

We must re-elect Donald Trump to the presidency. We know his strengths, his love of country, his genuine respect for the American people. He keeps his promises. He will return America to financial security and regain international respect.

Nancy Celano, Sebastian

Get more facts on Trump associates' Russian connections

I've seen a couple of letters from readers from Vero Beach that make me wonder what they're thinking.

One writer is still calling Rep. Adam Schiff, D-California, a liar for saying he has proof of Donald Trump's Russian collusion. Trump's campaign manager in 2016, Paul Manafort, gave an interview to Business Insider in the summer of 2022 describing how he was sharing polling data with men suspected of associating with the Russian KGB.

Trump’s friend Roger Stone was tried and convicted by a jury of his peers of lying to Congress about his collaboration with the Russians.

Writers should do more research rather than just repeating what Fox entertainment says.

Don Whisman, Stuart

Biden much better president than Trump

It's time to stop bashing President Joe Biden.

He's doing great: Wages are up more than inflation, which is down. There's no recession in sight. Biden created more new good jobs than Donald Trump, who spewed lies. GOP attempts to smear Hunter Biden are a joke in comparison to Trump's son-in-law taking $2 billion from the Saudis, whom we should have attacked after 9/11.

Biden is reducing our national debt more than Trump's tax cut for the rich increased it. (It's a fact: Republicans have increased the national debt more than Democrats).

Biden has accomplished bipartisan legislation on infrastructure jobs and U.S. chip manufacturing. He ended COVID with sensible strictures and exposed Trump's crackpot bleach and horse nostrums, saving 500,000 American lives. Biden has put more "kitchen-table" legislation into law than any other recent president.

The rabid right should stop defending an unfit former guy, and accept Biden as the decent, effective president he has proven to be. Biden is a Dwight Eisenhower for our time. On age: Biden's in better shape physically than Trump. Just compare their waistlines.

Trump is a "thespian" ― a publicity-hound "actor" and dictator-like rhetorician.

Robert Gibbons, Stuart

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Brightline; Aldean racist? Left wrong; GOP take; Comer probe | Letters