Callers comment on UF football recruiting, inflation, abortion and more

What's on your mind? Call Sound Off, our weekly column of community comments, at 352-337-0368 to share your opinions. 

• Former UF Coach Mullen said he wasn’t big on recruiting. He was right! In the listings of the USA Today Sports Network ... in The Sun, only one current UF player’s name appears. As the new season gets underway, we’ll see how much magic Coach Napier can perform. There may be some unheralded players waiting their turn to shine. I hope so!

Florida Gators head football coach Billy Napier watches during the annual Orange and Blue spring game at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville on April 14.
Florida Gators head football coach Billy Napier watches during the annual Orange and Blue spring game at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville on April 14.

• The University of Florida has apparently accepted $3 million to start a Hamilton Center for Civics Education. The money came from a public university reform council based in Alachua. Really? This is a very large public university 20 miles from Alachua, and apparently nobody at UF has ever heard of the council on public university reform … Thank you, editor Douglas Ray, for putting this on the front page of The Gainesville Sun in the bright sunshine where it obviously needs to be.

• I love The Gainesville Sun on some issues like saving our water and Gainesville For All. That’s all great, but how about our country for all? We have inflation that’s going through the roof at 9.1% and we haven’t seen nothing yet, I believe. We have a president who can’t read from the teleprompter, and The Gainesville Sun and the people responding are acting like everything’s fine.

• Citizens, you need to make a choice. If you want President Biden to bring down gas prices at the pump, then don’t criticize him for talking to the leaders of Saudi Arabia. If human rights are important to you, and you feel he should not be talking to the leaders of Saudi Arabia, then don’t complain about gas prices.

• People who are complaining about the high prices should consider eliminating all restaurant food and all bottled water from what they spend their money on. It would go a lot farther that way and they’d be just as happy.

• Vote “no” to any school taxes. Vote “no” to endorsing any new ad valorem taxes. Vote “no” to extending any sunsetting ad valorem taxes. Vote “no” to increasing the cost of any and all ad valorem taxes. No new taxes for Alachua County! No new taxes for roads. We have enough from the federal government, and that should be sufficient. We're tired of taxes.

• I believe in fact over fiction. Just because Roe v. Wade was overturned does not mean abortion has been banned. The decision was returned to the states. The word “abortion” does not appear in the U.S. Constitution. It is not a constitutional right. That is a fact; don’t believe the fiction.

• During the Trump administration, drug seizures at the border were viewed by Republicans as evidence that his policy was working. During the Biden administration, the same people point to drug seizures at the border as evidence of a failed policy of open border. Which is it — do drug seizures indicate border policy is succeeding or failing?

• I find it rather interesting that we have people like Sen. Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg and President Joe Biden telling us how to run our economy, what they will do to make it better, and none of these people have ever signed the front of a check. I’ve signed well over 100,000 fronts of checks for my employees. I’ve had to make payroll.

• Former president Donald Trump is a class act. On his social media platform, he eulogized his first wife, Ivana, on her death, followed by a request for contributions to his re-election campaign. Not something Jesus would do!

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This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Calls on UF football recruiting, inflation, abortion and more