DeSantis, Disney team up? Moms vs. lewd manatees? Reject heat; Trump; CNN news? | Letters

DeSantis wants new prison at Disney? Here's a win-win

Some time ago, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis proposed building a much-needed prison at Disney World in Orlando.

Though DeSantis’ prison proposal shows the kind of leadership, vision and forward-thinking Florida deserves, I think DeSantis is missing a great opportunity. Instead of fighting Disney on the prison, make the company a partner.

Disney’s vast experience in theme park and hotel management makes it the perfect partner to help DeSantis get (working title) Felonland off the ground and open to the public. Instead of building just another dull, gray lock-up with high walls and razor wire, Felonland could offer its inmates-guests deluxe accommodations in what the recreation and penal industries call a “full immersion experience.”

Like Disney’s recently closed Star Wars theme hotel, Galactic Starcruiser Felonland's inmates/guests can book three-, five- or seven-day lockup packages And for those inmates-guests identified as critics of DeSantis’ authoritarian leadership, Felonland offers the ultra deluxe “no exit” package.

Floridians know DeSantis can run a prison. But can he run a deluxe super-max prison-hotel theme park complex?

The win-win here is for DeSantis to give Disney the whole recreation and prison franchise in Florida, then let Disney incur all the development, building and operating expenses, while Florida takes in all the profits.

If DeSantis embraces this idea soon, Felonland could be up and running to coincide with the opening of Disney’s other new theme park: Genderland.

Chris Christensen, Palm City

Enlist Moms group to stop lewd manatee behavior in public?

Recently, there has been a flurry of news stories about the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office asking the public to please stop calling them to report manatees engaging in sexual activity.'

While the sheriff’s office tried to pass off what these creatures are doing as "normal," I think the real issue here is the lack of legal enforcement mechanism to protect the public, especially kids, from being exposed to such behavior.

Though not a mother myself, I am calling for the creation of a grass-roots organization, "Moms for Manatee Morality," to push for strict legislation to protect the children of Florida.

I can only hope our governor and his allies in the Legislature care enough about our youth to pass laws that will stem the rising tide of sexual immorality in our state. One that is apparently so powerful, it is now engulfing poor, innocent sea cows.

David Scheuer, Palm City

Heat on: When will all of us get serious about fixing thermostat?

The heat is on. July was the hottest month ever recorded on Mother Earth. August may be the same.

Ocean temperatures off South Florida reached 101 degrees. Whether that was a record is uncertain. What is certain is that storms, including hurricanes, that draw energy and moisture from warmer waters will become more numerous, powerful and deadly.

Welcome to the blast furnace wrought by climate change.

According to expansive research by the Union of Concerned Scientists, beginning in 2036, Indian River County could suffer 58 days a year with feels-like temperatures of 105 degrees. The historical average (1971-2010) is just three.

The organization offers a continuously updated interactive tool that forecasts temperatures for all 3,142 counties in the United States, without drastic action to curb heat-trapping carbon emissions. (You can Google Killer Heat by County.)

We face a choice: Do nothing and put the onus on our children to suffer the consequences. Or we could marshal every possible resource and go right at the existential threat.

President Joe Biden and Democrats in Congress began the hard work through key provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.

"It’s a new day in the fight against climate change … " the Environmental Defense Fund stated: "With its $369 billion in climate and clean energy investments, the act is the largest, most ambitious climate legislation Congress has ever passed."

Multiple independent analyses, the fund said, show the bill will reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions some 40% below 2005 levels by 2030. It will make a difference "in people’s lives, cutting energy costs and creating high-quality jobs."

Every Republican member of Congress voted against the legislation. Every single one. Just as with gun control and abortion, Republicans are at odds with the American public ― and on the wrong side of history.

Richard Leonard, Vero Beach

Lyrics in Jason Aldean country song 'hypocrisy'

The lyrics of Jason Aldean’s song — “Cuss out a cop, spit in his face, stomp on the flag and light it up,” from "Try That in a Small Town" — are hypocrisy.

Many people in ultraconservative small towns had and still have no problem in supporting Trump insurrectionists who did that and worse to police on Jan. 6, 2021.

Anthony Frigo, Jensen Beach

Let's question each other without being disagreeable

I read Don Whisman's letter implying I called Adam Schiff a liar.

I went back and reread what I wrote in this letters column and didn’t see where I did that. However, if someone thinks I did, I apologize. I’m sorry someone got that from my letter.

I was mainly asking Schiff to please show us his proof of Russian interference for that two and a half years of taxpayer funding he said he had. Nowhere did I see he did that.

I wasn’t interested in going tit for tat over the years of who did what. Only God is perfect.

If Mr. Whisman is happy with the way our country is heading and being run, and wants that for his family, that’s his right; so be it.

I’m glad he challenged what I said, so I could rethink it. I’m always ready to learn.

My wish would be we’d all vote for our country, not always a political party. So let’s hope we can disagree without being disagreeable, and may God bless America and make it better.

Joan Hall, Vero Beach

Why don't Trump supporters see ongoing legal issues as problem?

I don't know why followers of MAGA keep supporting Donald Trump in light of all his potential indictments. Do they not think what Trump has been accused of is major?

If Joe Biden or any powerful Democrat were accused of only half of Trump's lies, etc., those Democrats wouldn't only be impeached, they would be hounded day and night.

There are only a handful of Republican candidates who even have the guts to criticize Trump for all his alleged crimes. What's wrong with this picture?

Rita Wolper, Stuart

Time to get real: Turn off CNN, MSNBC

I read the Opinion page Aug. 2 and could only ask: "What?"

Is there something wrong with the air quality around here? One writer criticized residents of Vero Beach and Fox news and its viewers all the while this writer apparently was listening to stations that give their biased perspectives. Another letter praised Joe and Hunter Biden as if they were divine Father and Son.

Perhaps it's time to turn off the TV sets from CNN and MSNBC. They are not journalists, but rather opinionists. Take off the rose-colored glasses and go out and see what is really happening around the states.

Jacki Sadowski, Port St. Lucie

End of beginning with global warming?

When Native Americans ruled this land from sea to shining sea, the grass grew, rivers flowed and the winds blew in the serendipity of nature.

We Europeans demolished their culture as we built a culture to dominate and destroy. The internet hums with scientists' accomplishments today as they hope to contain the results of 160 years of rabid industrialization.

Through war and peace, human greed promotes global warming. Carbon dioxide saturates our atmosphere, thinning it more each day and allowing the sun to combust what it once warmed. Scientists say 2030 or even 2025 will be the point of no return on global warming.

Is it not an oxymoron that nations are churning out carbon dioxide to prepare for war even as rational science predicts Hell on Earth?

The guy with cerebral brain burn and an AR-15 standing behind you at the grocers ain’t shopping for vegetables.

“Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is perhaps the end of the beginning,” Winston Churchill said.

Lowell Sasser, Fort Pierce

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: DeSantis, Disney unite? Moms vs. lewd manatees? Trump & CNN | Letters