DeSantis anchor ancestor; books vs. guns, NRA; spying on public; Schiff shifty? | Letters

DeSantis hypocritical when it comes to immigration

Gov. Ron DeSantis says: “We will take action to end the idea that the children of illegal aliens are entitled to birthright citizenship if they are born in the United States.”

But his great-great-grandmother, Luigia Colucci, was 8 months pregnant when she arrived in Ellis Island on Feb. 21, 1917, to join her husband, who had come here 12 years earlier, according to Megan Smolenyak, a professional genealogist.

Luigia was allowed in, and the baby born soon after automatically became an American citizen; a now scorned “anchor baby.”

“Whole villages in Italy would just come to America and stay here together. You just showed up, and we took 98% of them … even if you were sick, we had a hospital you could go to," Smolenyak explained to Frank Cerabino for his August 25, 2018, column.

Now DeSantis wants finish Trump’s wall, and amazingly brags that in Florida, “we know how to get infrastructure built quickly and cut through red tape."

So, he hasn’t seen the 90-plus-year-old rusting lift bridge in Stuart? How many other obsolete, traffic-blocking, pollution-causing, lift bridges are there in Florida? The governor did move fast after Surfside’s collapse, but guess who is now on all the scaffolds, in the heat, doing all the actual work of repairing beachside condos?

Helen Frigo, Jensen Beach

DeSantis focus: Has a book killed a child lately?

I may not be the first to say this, but it bears repeating.

Until a drag queen blasts into an elementary school classroom and beats eight kids to death with a copy of "To Kill a Mockingbird," Ron DeSantis is focusing on the wrong issues.

Bill Wink, South Hutchinson Island

Time to send message to NRA, representatives

Ten years ago, I never would have thought I would become so anti-Republican Party (anti-Trump Party).

I had been Republican, then independent. Then Donald Trump changed me into a Democrat, and I want to be able to return to being an independent.

There are so many problems with today’s GOP, one being it is so beholden to the NRA it refuses to even consider effective gun-control laws. Its public answer to the mass shootings is the mantra: “Second Amendment; mental health problem.”

And the rebuttal to that is why don’t other countries have the number of shootings per capita as the United States? They don’t have mental health problems?

It’s become so easy for someone in a spurt of anger to grab a gun and shoot, killing loved ones, friends, strangers or even themselves. So what do the Republicans who use the excuses of Second Amendment and mental health really believe? Do they not see a correlation between the ending of the ban on assault rifles in 1994 and the increase in mass shootings since then?

And what is the purpose of the DeSantis removal of gun permits? "Have at it, people?"

All local, state and federal candidates (including incumbents) should be asked if they will support gun control laws, and we should not accept their spins. The only solution, at least for one term, is to have at least 60 U.S. Democratic senators, more than 218 Democratic U.S. representatives, and for Floridians, a majority of Democrats in both Florida state Houses.

Politicians already know the public is not happy with Congress, but it seems they have to be voted out for the message to become clear: They represent the people, not the outside interests.

Anne Brakman, Vero Beach

Affirmative action: Court too conservative, but ruling makes sense

I’ve always hated “labeling” anyone. It impacts one’s whole life.

I am not in favor of this conservative Supreme Court. Many of its current decisions are anathematic to my beliefs. But the recent decision on affirmative action really caught my attention. This is something I absolutely agree with.

We forget that we all are people and should be judged and rewarded by this nondescript ideology. Not race, religion, sexual orientation, politics, financial position or any other group we may consider ourselves a part of.

It must be so discouraging for someone with equal qualifications to lose out to someone because that person is protected by affirmative action.

Affirmative action tells you nothing about the total person and how he or she will perform. What talents do they actually have; what are their actual qualifications?

I’m so glad affirmative action was defeated. Let’s see where it takes us.

Mary Oliver, Jensen Beach

FISA, Patriot acts used against citizens by government

The purpose of the separation of powers by the framers is to limit the opportunity of a government usurping the rights of we the people outlined in the Constitution.

This abuse is well-documented throughout history with John Adams' signing of the Sedition Act, which sent those who criticized him to prison. The judicial branch dominated by Federalists refused to rule it unconstitutional.

Under the Patriot Act, the FBI can secretly spy on American citizens to obtain evidence of crime without proving probable cause, as the Fourth Amendment explicitly requires.

Intended to be used as a tool against terrorism, I think it is now being used by government political parties to maintain control.

An example of this abuse of power resulted in a confidential congratulatory call from Donald Trump to Volodymyr Zelenskyy with a staffer, Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, eavesdropping and running to Democrats, including U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff, D-California, after learning Trump asked Zelenskyy about the roles Hunter and Joe Biden may have played in the firing of the prosecutor investigating Hunter Biden's deal with Burisma. The same deal Joe Biden bragged about at a public council on foreign relations symposium. This private call resulted in Schiff starting the impeachment against Trump.

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is another example of no limits being placed on obtaining private information on citizens without warrants that can be used and abused by political opponents and enforcement agencies.

The manner in which these “acts” and laws are used is against the Constitution designed to protect us from government abusing power.

Benjamin Paul Zelno, Vero Beach

When will nation begin to elect 'normal' people?

I'm afraid to put a Joe Biden sticker on my car for fear of it being vandalized. But if a car has a Donald Trump sticker on it, Biden supporters won't damage it.

I fear for the future of our once great country. The FBI, justice officials and other law and order people are threatened. Even Congress people and their families are threatened.

What kind of hold does Trump have on some people? Many of the Jan. 6, 2021, violent people are in jail.

Our Supreme Court is much too far right. Six of the justices vote against the wishes of the majority of our population. Not only that, but some of them act in unethical ways like no other judge would ever dare to do.

Will we ever get a more "normal" country, where competent people are elected?

Rita Wolper, Stuart

If you can't trust Schiff, who else can't you trust?

After several years of our time and treasure, telling us he definitely had proof of the Russian scandal, U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff, D-California, still continues on, as usual, ignoring us.

Why, before he gets to do anything else, isn’t he first made to show us what we paid for, the Russian information proof he told us he definitely had. We’ve been waiting to see what took up several years of our lives.

Things like this, and there are many of them, are why some believe the election was stolen from President Donald Trump, and the election thieves, like Schiff, are allowed to get away with it — all while continuing to collect taxpayer paychecks.

Joan Hall, Vero Beach

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: DeSantis anchor ancestor; books vs. guns, NRA; Schiff shifty? | Letters