Letters to the editor for Saturday, October 7, 2023

Letters to the editor should be 250 words or less. Include your name and city or community of residence. Guest opinions should be 600 words or less and include a brief summary of the author’s credentials relevant to the topic. Guest opinions may include a head shot of the author. For the Fort Myers News-Press, email submissions to mailbag@news-press.com and for the Naples Daily News to letters@naplesnews.com

Walk to End Alzheimer’s

More than 16,000 seniors in Collier County are estimated to be living with Alzheimer’s. Thousands more are serving as their unpaid caregivers, impacting the ability to work as well as physical and mental health. This is a disease that affects the entire family.The Walk to End Alzheimer’s is an event I have supported for years. Ever since the pandemic, we have held a walk in our neighborhood. Our team grew in size and we raised more money to combat this devastating disease, a disease that has directly impacted my family.We have seen increases in funding for the Alzheimer’s Disease Initiative over the past few years, however the significant demand requires us to continue to increase funds. Thank you to Senate President Kathleen Passidomo for your support in increasing funding for these critical programs. As we head into the 2024 legislative session, please continue increasing funding for the Alzheimer’s Disease Initiative.It is up to us to make Collier County a better place to age. I encourage you to register or donate to support the work of the Alzheimer’s Association -- the Collier County Walk to End Alzheimer’s is at Baker Park on Saturday, Nov. 4. Register at alz.org/CollierCountyWalk. Or go to act.alz.org/goto/teamquarry to support our team. We will walk for loved ones living and lost to this disease and make our voices heard!

Linda Lepore, Naples

Hurricane Ian tax relief

Representative Greg Steube had an agreement with Speaker Kevin McCarthy to bring up the designation of Hurricane Ian as a qualified federal disaster for tax purposes before the Oct. 15 filing deadline for calendar year taxpayers who had extended their 2023 tax return in anticipation of this tax relief for their Ian losses. This agreement went up in smoke thanks to Representative Matt Gaetz and the eight Republicans who ousted McCarthy.

For over a year, we have waited for this tax relief. It still may happen but for those who now need to file a return by Oct. 15, it likely will require filing an amended return which will take time to do, likely money for someone to prepare it and time for the IRS to process a refund.

I am sure Matt Gaetz would like thousands of letters sent to him at Longworth House Office Building, 1721, Washington, D.C. 20515 and would also love hearing from you at 202-225-4136 about his service to Floridians in regards to this matter.

Chris Corrie, Bonita Springs

VFW Teachers of the Year

Golden Gate Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post 7721 annually recognizes Teachers of the Year (ToY). Each year elementary, middle and high school teachers are recognized by the VFW for the patriotic content of their classroom instruction.

If you, your child or grandchild has a favorite teacher please nominate that teacher as soon as possible. Entry forms and brochures are available online at vfwfl.org/uploads/Documents/2023-2024TeacheroftheYearEntryFormandBrochure.pdf

Please submit your ToY nomination to: Golden Gate VFW Post 7721, 13131 Collier Blvd., Naples, FL 34119

The submission deadline is midnight Oct. 31.

Dr. J.B. Holmes, Naples

Finally, border protection

When Trump began to build the southern border wall, progressives and the mainstream press associated it with racism. Trump shut the border down as well as it could be done. He apprehended illegal immigrants to the tune of 851,000 in 2019 according to Pew Research, which was more than double the apprehensions made in the previous year.

As Biden came to office, he said he would never continue building the wall at the southern border. Now, with over 7,000,000 illegal immigrants spread about the U.S., which include gang members, fentanyl carriers and human traffickers, the president has decided it is time to build more wall. Up to this point, all sorts of lies were introduced by Biden with support from the mainstream press guaranteeing that the border was closed.

Biden’s whiz of a press secretary said on May 8, that the “border wall can’t withstand heavy wind.”   Building it would be a waste of taxpayer dollars.  What has changed? Maybe global warming has calmed the winds.  Isn’t it a waste of taxpayer money to house and feed all 7,000,000 illegals?

Now the Biden administration is waiving 26 federal laws to allow new wall construction. The DHS secretary said, “There is presently an acute and immediate need to construct physical barriers and roads in the vicinity of the border of the United States in order to prevent unlawful entries into the United States in the project areas.”

This a small baby step in trying to secure the border. Biden should be ashamed.

Nick Blauwiekel, Naples

Biden and the border

It is time to face facts that the only reason for the Biden administration to do an about face and issue a statement that the the border wall needs to be built is because Democratic states like New York and Illinois are telling the White House that the border is opened and that they will lose votes.

Mayorkas has lied for two years saying the border is secure. Brings to mind "who are you going to believe me or your lying eyes."

How stupid does this Pinnochio of an administration think the American public is? The fact is Biden doesn't give a whit about our thoughts until it affects the number of voters that are turning on him.

He must not be re-elected if we want America to regain its lost worldwide stature. If cartels in Mexico can step all over the U.S. just think what Russia, Iran, China and North Korea are planning.

Michael Zubrow, Naples

Putin, Trump and Ukraine

Vladimir Putin is going to drag the invasion of Ukraine out until The Don is defeated next November. He knows Trump’s sympathetic and in love with his favorite dictator and would end the war by giving him everything he’s already illegally taken. Until then, thousands more will die which means nothing to him. However, if the Great Pumpkin is not going to be the candidate next year, he may have to cease the attack, especially after our fighter jets begin deployment. So, if the Republicans finally come to their senses and replace the twice impeached and four-time indicted rapist, maybe there's a shred of hope after all. Not holding my breath, but civility and humanity has to enter the picture ASAP or the candidacy needs to be legally disallowed. With so many ill-informed and easily influenced followers, this seemingly is a mountain too high.

It’s impossible to understand their mentality, but here’s hoping.

Glenn Chenot, Cape Coral

Frightening ignorance

When then President Trump declared that John McCain wasn't a hero because he got caught or stood over a grave at Arlington National Cemetery and asked John Kelly, whose son was buried there, "what was in it for them?" or declared that former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Milley should be executed for disagreeing with him, every military or former military member in this country should be appalled.

Trump's violent rhetoric has escalated recently and should scare every American.  Look what happened when his appeal to his followers to storm the Capitol on Jan. 6 resulted in the crowd chanting "hang Mike Pence." Most disturbing is a recent interview on Fox News in which he indicated that immigrants are "poisoning the blood of America."  An Adolf Hitler speech contained the words "Jews are poisoning the blood of Germany."  Accidental?  Probably not.

Each time Trump issues statements suggesting potential violence, his followers seem to increase.  Republican politicians seem unable to refute anything he states because they are hardly more than invertebrate eunuchs fearing Trump's wrath.  Those American voters who blindly embrace his violence and ignore his obvious intentions to suspend the Constitution and exist as a dictator (similar to his obvious friends -- by his own admission -- Putin et al.)

It's frightening to observe the ignorance exhibited by so many American voters who have their eyes closed to history and embrace this immoral, arrogant, spiteful, misogynistic self-serving man facing 91 charges in various courts as their next leader.  What is abundantly clear is that you can't cure stupidity, but you can sell it a red hat.

Robert F. Tate, Naples

Physician workforce issues

Thank you for your recent articles on health care workforce shortages. One issue that needs addressing is shortages in physician residencies. The balanced budget act of 1996 fixed the number of Medicare funded physician residencies at about 40,000. In 2021, partly due to COVID, 117,000 physicians retired. The following two years it is projected that an additional 60,000 physicians will retire each year.

There have been bills to address physician residency shortages in Congress since 2007. Most die in a finance committee. We need an additional 8,000 residency positions funded for 2024. Last year 8,000 more medical school graduates applied for residencies than residencies that were available. These graduates were from both American and overseas medical colleges. Funding 8,000 additional residencies is a first step in addressing the physician workforce issues. Without this, physician burnout will become worse, and excess physician retirements will continue.

Thomas Hallquist, North Fort Myers

Republican enablers

Perhaps it is just me, but I find it particularly rich that the Republicans in the House of Representatives, minus seven, are showing disdain for the latest antics of Florida’s boy blunder, the dishonorable Matt Gaetz. Mr. Gaetz has single-handedly orchestrated a full-blown constitutional crisis for the entire country and one that has serious national security repercussions. Yet, this is a Republican conference that for the last eight years has enabled, applauded, participated in and tolerated well-documented instances of duplicitous, dishonest, uncivil, unethical, often inhumane, undemocratic, illegal and corrupt behavior by their dear leader Mr. Trump, by others in the Republican Party (cue up Mr. DeSantis) and by the members themselves. Yet, they feign surprise that the very behavior they have been modeling is now being used against them by one of their own. The country needs to brace itself for more of this almost criminally parochial behavior by Republicans in which the Constitution and the general welfare of all citizens continually take a back seat to their messianic devotion to Mr. Trump’s narcissistic “I alone” mantra. It is imperative that all these eunuchs be defeated at the ballot box or the country will face one constitutional crisis after another under their governance, as it did under Mr. Trump. Only then will the entire country get back to "normal order."

Thomas Minor, Bonita Springs

Disrupting a proceeding

So, the Democrats were doing all they could to delay a vote and somehow, a school principal representative in Congress, who is a Democrat, pulled a fire alarm that caused evacuation of the Capitol and further delayed the vote. His excuse was that he thought it would open doors as he supposedly rushed to vote. However, have you ever seen anyplace where you pull a lever not attached to the door to open a door? In addition, have you ever seen any contraption that was to be used to open a door that was fire engine red and clearly labeled fire alarm? You have to be pretty ignorant to actually accept Democrat Representative Bowman's argument. This clearly was an attempt by a congressman to disrupt an official proceeding. Do you think the DOJ will be as serious about this as they are about Jan. 6 rioters?

Ron Wobbeking, Naples

Stacking the deck

Gerrymandering is a process of establishing voting districts to favor a political party. The practice was named after Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts who allowed such a scheme as governor.  Political parties can gain an advantage in elections by packing (stuffing the opposition party’s voters into districts so their votes are not distributed more widely) or cracking (dividing opponents’ voters among multiple districts so there are too few of them in any district to have a chance of winning).   The Constitution requires a census every ten years to see where people are; this helps government to draw districts which allow us to elect folks who represent us.

In 2010, Republicans raised substantial funds from corporate donors to permeate state elections with ads and campaign literature to elect Republicans to state legislatures. They then began Operation REDMAP --  a plan to take control of state houses across the country so that Republicans could control the redistricting maps put in place after the 2010 census.  As a result, after elections, Republicans control the legislatures in the key states of Florida, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Ohio, and Michigan and have begun redrawing maps.

How can Democrats militate against such rot, such unconstitutionality?  Democrats can register to vote as Republicans; that frustrates identifying party affiliations thereby foreclosing gerrymandering.  Granted, doing so does not allow Democrats to vote in their party’s primaries.  But it does allow them to vote in the primary for less offensive Republican candidates thereby keeping the likes of Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, Matt Gaetz and Byron Donalds out of public office.

Sally Lam, Naples

Reagan on immigration

America is a sparkling, multi-colored treasure chest filled with vibrant cultural jewels from every corner of the Earth. But don’t take it from me, a liberal leaning Democrat. Let me hand the microphone to Ronald Reagan, who said this prior to leaving office:

“Other countries may seek to compete with us; but in one vital area, as a beacon of freedom and opportunity that draws the people of the world, no country on Earth comes close.

This, I believe, is one of the most important sources of America’s greatness. We lead the world because, unique among nations, we draw our people — our strength — from every country and every corner of the world. And by doing so we continuously renew and enrich our nation.While other countries cling to the stale past, here in America we breathe life into dreams. We create the future, and the world follows us into tomorrow.Thanks to each wave of new arrivals to this land of opportunity, we’re a nation forever young, forever bursting with energy and new ideas, and always on the cutting edge, always leading the world to the next frontier.”(Sadly, President Reagan wouldn’t recognize his Grand Old Party of today)

J. Cant, Naples

Trump's federal workforce

Former President Trump, like Governor DeSantis, pledges to slash the number of federal employees, although our governor is more graphic in his plan for “slitting throats” of that workforce.

But this is yet another promise that the ex-president is unlikely to keep if he returns to the White House. Its achievement is improbable because he would, to the contrary, have to substantially boost the number of federal employees to undertake his bold law enforcement plans.

He has vowed to bring criminal proceedings and jail his political rivals and others who oppose him. (Does that include the 81,281,503 people who voted against him in 2020?)

He also has asserted that outgoing Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley committed “treason“ and warrants criminal prosecution and execution, presumably if convicted but, perhaps, even if not.

As president, he would have to significantly increase the number of attorneys in the Department of Justice’s  criminal division to accomplish these missions.

The civil unit of the DOJ  will need to be expanded, too, in order to take on  another one of his goals to nullify the broadcast license of Comcast and its NBC network system, which he also has branded as treasonous and warranting deprivation of their licensure.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) will also have to be revamped if he follows through with his desire, shared by many MAGAniacs, to disband that organization. J. Edgar Hoover would roll over in his grave.

Without the FBI, he would have to contract-out federal law enforcement to another organization. How about the Proud Boys?

All of this will require substantial funding, which poses another obstacle: He wants to defund the government, too.

Marshall H. Tanick, Naples

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Letters to the editor for Saturday, October 7, 2023