Letters to the editor for Sunday, January 8, 2023

Not conservative, just mean

This makes me very, very sad.  Why?

DeSantis did a great job before, during, and after the hurricane. Exactly what a governor should do and be. He does need to work on insurance issues for so many, however that has been a Florida issue for longer than he has been in office

But his fight on cultural issues is dangerous.  I am a very proud WOKE citizen.  Woke means you care about others.  Woke means you try to find ways to help and support those less fortunate or different. Woke means you accept differences.

Getting rid or changing history being taught. Banning books. Telling kids they can’t be who they are. Taking humans, putting them on a plane with no warning to the other citizens of that city.

That is not being a conservative. It is just mean. It is hard to think of a deeply religious man treating others so inhumanely.  That is absolutely anti-woke. And to me that is very, very sad.

Jeri Heap, Fort Myers

Majority applauds DeSantis

Your liberal bias cracks me up. Day after day I read your articles condemning Ron DeSantis for everything the majority of your readers applaud him for!

You are so lucky that you are the only newspaper in town.

Gary Marsh, Estero

Paving paradise

We have been Naples residents for over 12 years. When we first moved here, Naples was commonly referred to as "Paradise" due to the beautiful beaches, reasonable traffic, accessibility of restaurants, attractions and other amenities. Recently, I have wondered if that description even comes close to Naples today. Traffic is terrible, beaches are crowded and the weather has been a great concern. My biggest concern is with the proposed development around Naples and especially in the northeast area off Oil Well Road. The proposal to build thousands of housing units in that area is insane. The infrastructure is stressed now. Can you imagine what it would be like if construction proceeds? I recently heard a song where I work by Joni Mitchell called "Big Yellow Taxi." The theme was "Pave Paradise Put Up A Parking Lot." The reoccurring message, "Don't it always seem to go That you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone." Wake up Naples, this should be your theme song.

Paul Turner, Naples

Show good faith on immigration

A focus these days is on immigration, or the the lack of a comprehensive immigration policy. And demeaning immigrants and raising fears that Americans will be devoured by The Big Bad people who are different than you and me. It was the same way when my ancestors immigrated from Ireland. “Go back where you came from” or “They’re taking our jobs” were common refrains. If your ancestors were Polish, Italian, Russian, Japanese, Chinese, Puerto Rican, Catholic or Jewish, they experienced the same demeaning behavior. So, to be clear, this rallying cry has been used for 200 years to stoke fear and divide our people, to serve someone’s agenda.

So why do we have such a problem with our immigration system? It’s not an easy question to answer, but recent actions do provide some historical perspective.

In 2006 the Democratic controlled Senate passed a bipartisan immigration bill that increased border security and reformed our immigration policies. The Republican controlled House, led by Speaker Dennis Hastert, refused to take up the bill. Immigration reform died.

In 2013 the Republican led Senate passed a bipartisan comprehensive Immigration bill that again addressed border security and the Dreamer situation. The Republican controlled House, led by Speaker Boehner, again refused to take up the bill.

Do we see a pattern here? The question is why.

Conservatives continue to blame liberals for our immigration problems. As the last two bills introduced in Congress were bipartisan efforts, I would propose that someone is not bargaining in good faith.

Both parties need to debate and develop a comprehensive immigration bill.  Because dividing us is serving someone’s agenda. I wonder whose?

Joe Moran, North Fort Myers

Affordable housing

I am in agreement with Senate President Kathleen Passidomo's editorial -- "No single solution to affordable housing." I would say that Senate Bill (SB) 2512 passed by the Legislature in 2021 and not mentioned in the editorial is -- No solution to affordable housing.

One source of funding for affordable housing is the Sadowski Trust Fund (STF). Established in 1992, funds collected from real estate transactions are allocated for the creation of affordable housing ownership and funding for the construction or rehabilitation of multifamily rental housing.

From 2002-2021 $2,315,693,851 was swept from the trust fund into other state funds. Imagine what over 2 billion dollars could have done to provide affordable housing and employment. SB 2512 stopped future sweeps but included one last and large sweep from the trust fund. Funding went from 24.17 percent of funds collected to 9.7 percent, so the fund would get less than half of what was previously allocated. The 14.47 percent removed from STF would be divided between two programs. A Resilient Florida Fund (flooding and sea level rise) and a Waste Water Fund. The affordable housing crisis and the environmental crisis will not be solved by robbing one program to establish two others.

The scarcity of affordable housing has an unequivocal impact on quality of life, increased transportation costs, congested roads, increased homelessness and family instability, increased mental health needs and recruiting and retaining employees. A healthy and stable community benefits all its residents. Affordable housing needs and deserves more money, innovation and attention, not less! Patricia Howard, Naples

Social Security, Medicare in trouble

A recent letter titled "Republicans aiming at Social Security" implies they have an agenda to curtail Social Security and cut back on Medicare coverage. Both Social Security and Medicare programs are in trouble. According to Money Watch and CBS News "Medicare insolvency is seen in seven years and Social Security in 16 years." The writer thinks that raising the S/S age to 70 is a bad idea. If this comes to pass it would not affect those already on Social Security. Bottom line is something must change to keep both programs solvent. People are living well into their nineties. Why not gradually increase the retirement age? Also, how about eliminating the cap on taxable S/S wages, currently set at $147,000 for tax year 2022, a great way to tax the "rich." Another idea that has been advanced includes imposing a means test. An example would be reducing the Social Security benefit by $1 for every $2 in adjusted gross income over $400,000. Again, this would only affect the more affluent citizens. Fixing the Medicare problem is even more complex.

Gray Poehler, Naples

GOP inept, Dems corrupt

Well finally it has come to this: a choice between the inept and the corrupt.

On the inept side of the ledger, there is the Republican Party, which, as of this writing and after a difficult election, is unable to choose a speaker of the House, and further, clings to -- at least in part -- the notion that Donald Trump is or should be electable as president.

Then there are the Democrats who have proven time and again that they will use any means to retain power, including the corruption of whole departments and agencies of government -- the Justice Department, the FBI, etc.

So long as it serves their political interests, no form of dishonesty and corruption is off limits.Finally we have come to this. It may now be possible to imagine the feelings of a Roman citizen in the Fourth or Fifth centuries as he or she stood by helplessly as the Roman Empire disintegrated. Perhaps, history is only repeating itself.

Robert Minogue, Naples

Photos worthy of award

As a photojournalist in my youth I applaud the camerawork of Andrew West in his shrimp boaters feature on Sunday, Jan. 1. It was award worthy and the hands shot  should be a Pulitzer candidate. This man's hands tell his life story.

Gerald Ponder, Cape Coral

Know right from wrong

The chaos that occurred by the Republicans that insist on being leaders showed the lack of leadership and ethics by all. Embarrassing to a party that prides themselves on money and their gods of the day.

Watching the flip and flop of their lack of agenda for we the people is insulting to us and our government. Bumbling fools to say the least. When their concern is to take hits at Biden instead of holding this country together is atrocious to say the least.

What happened to WE the people. Why are these people voted in except to create confusion. This is no longer a party line game. Open your eyes.

Be more like Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney. Act like you know the difference between right and wrong. Get woke.

Christianne Murphy, Golden Gate

What about Democrat lying?

I would like to respond to a contributor who commented on a recently elected Republican congressman who embellished his record (Honesty no longer required -- Mailbag 12/31).

Personally I feel that the congressman in question should step down before being sworn in but if we're going to look at one side that lied it's fair game to look at the other.

How about "I did not have sex with that woman" or how about "I landed under sniper fire" in Bosnia. Yep, that's Bill and Hillary Clinton.

How about "If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor." That would, of course, be President Obama.

But let's look at the one person who just can't seem to stop himself from lying.

He said he was initially against the Iraq War, he said President Obama didn't lock people in cages at our southern border, he said he went to law school on a full scholarship, he said he was the most outstanding student in the Political Science department, he said his ancestors worked in coal mines, he said he was arrested in the 1970's for trying to visit Nelson Mandela in prison, there are more but all of the above are false and let's not forget that he plagiarized a speech by British Labor leader Neil Kinnock. All attributed to our Liar-in-Chief Joe Biden.

I wonder if there was even a real Cornpop.

But all this doesn't compare to the hundreds, probably thousands, of the men and women in Congress and the mainstream media who perpetuated the Russian collusion and Hunter laptop lies.

So let's be fair and look at both sides of the aisle when it comes to lying and embellishing.

Rick Manuel, Dade City

Term limits are the answer

Folks, let's face facts, its not the fault of the Republicans or the Democrats, it is the shared fault of the Republicans AND the Democrats. I voted for Trump in 2016 because he vowed to clean out the swamp. Now he has enemies in both parties because they fear their gravy trains may run dry. How can you tell when a politician is lying? Easy, when their lips are moving. Even at our local levels, the only honest pols have just been elected, but give them time, they too will join all the rest. Our local board of way overpaid county commissioners doesn't do what helps its citizens but follow the big money. The only way to solve all of this is TERM LIMITS, before they can steal any more from us. And tell me how an outlier from New York ends up being appointed to LCSO as sheriff after previous sheriff retired shortly after winning reelection. Let's get rid of this bum ASAP before he wrecks any more school-age kids' futures.

Mike Dinschel, Fort Myers

Trump, Santos are done

During the closing days of 2022 Trump's tax returns have finally shed some light on the insanity of the Trump businesses. He cut off personal business with China, when he didn’t. He donated his presidential salary, well he didn’t, he tried to trademark “Rigged Election.” Hmm.? The virus will just disappear by Easter (2020) because his hotels were losing money. He’s very generous to charity, well no. He was the Wizard of Oz and we were all his munchkins. Enter George Santos, imagine if you will, a Republican candidate from New York, winning a congressional seat, a real life Zelig. His life a total fabrication. There is no shame in the Republican Party, only power and influence and money. It’s time to throw those silly red caps in the New Year’s trash, take down the flags and scrape the stickers off your car. He’s done. And Mr. Santos is done .

Laurence Jacks, Estero

Governed by conspiracy theorists

DeSantis petitioned Florida’s Supreme Court to convene a grand jury to look into COVID vaccines and the court obliged.The Florida statute regulating grand juries specifically states “It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this act to strengthen the grand jury system and enhance the ability of the state to detect and eliminate organized criminal activity…” (905.32)If our governor and our Supreme Court believe that organized crime created and delivered COVID vaccines during the pandemic, they are creating and espousing conspiracy theories beyond rational comprehension. They have become as looney as Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Joe Haack, Naples

DeSantis better choice for GOP

I love this past president and his four obstructed years by Democrats were amazing for our country. I don’t think in 2024 he’s electable. As conservatives we need to do the same thing that the Democrats do, we can’t support candidates with heart but with fire and rage. We need to change how we vote. To me Trump is like a four-year winning QB that has been sidelined for four years with many injuries that wants to play again. If he is nominated he would be a lame duck with only one term as president. His first two years would be lost as he tries to regain his position in the Washington swamp, and if he is the presidential nominee Republicans may lose seats in the House in 2024 and same in the Senate.

Republicans should be in the majority in both chambers after this last election and were lucky they won the House! This past election showed us we need to focus on electable candidates in 2024.

I firmly believe a young, hard-hitting conservative like Ron DeSantis may be Republicans' saving grace. In a lot of ways he’s like Trump and if he won we would have him possibly in for eight years.

His accomplishments as governor have been outstanding, especially exposing COVID corruption and the teachers unions woke agenda. His handling of Hurricane Ian was outstanding!

I will support the Republican presidential nominee but if DeSantis is in the primary against Trump I would support DeSantis.

Arthur Maranian, Naples

Biden plan a hoax

The USA Today’s Chris Quintana has started the New Year by asking a question with an obvious answer: “Whatever happened to Biden’s free college plan?” Obvious answer: It was all a hoax to begin with! Old Joe and his liberal pack where completely aware that the president cannot allocate 400 billion dollars as a giveaway to folks who willingly borrowed money for college instead of working their way through intelligently, as many do. That handout is the sole responsibility of Congress, as they control the purse. Biden and his people KNEW this, yet they lied to the folks who buried themselves in debt so they didn’t have to work during their five years getting a degree in gender studies. Biden lied through his fake teeth in order to get votes from millions of young folks who don’t understand how the federal government works.

You may say “wow! This is the hoax of the century! This lie threw the election!" Well, you would be partially correct. This lie, coupled with the FBI, big tech, social media and the liberal press running a massive cover-up of the evidence found in Hunter Biden’s computer, which included 50 government intelligence officials signing a lie letter that the computer was a Russian plot is what threw the election. Had the country been told the truth about the Bidens' influence peddling and the millions they took in bribes from many different countries, we would not be on the brink of nuclear war today.

Now, even CNN admits that the computer that the FBI has buried somewhere is in fact Hunter's, and a massive investigation is about to begin. When the roles were reversed, the liberal House impeached Trump twice, with one tenth of the evidence of “high crimes” that are contained in the computer and eyewitness testimony. The Biden family are a bunch of lying crooks, and that’s a fact. Happy New Year!

Jeff Naslund, M.Ed., Fort Myers

Spending on failed programs

Letters to the editor allow us to express our opinion, and this is mine. I hate every tax dollar I send to Washington, knowing the government is free to spend it on failed programs, such as The Great Society, War on Poverty, Affirmative Action and Urban Planning. Now the government wants to add more programs which will surely fail, like The Green New Deal, CRT,  Woke and EV. Why do these special interests matter, and the rest of us don't? In 2023 check out your cell phone bill, gasoline receipt, heating bill, etc. and see what you are already paying in taxes.

Marian Lauck, Naples

Biden, Santos, what's the difference?

Unbelievable that there is an article on Santos every day for a week.

“We need answers. He appears to be a complete and utter fraud.”

What is so different today?

Then Senator Biden did exactly the same thing and nothing happened?

In addition, Biden plagiarized several prominent individuals in his campaign speeches, and again nothing happened!

What goes?

Dick Jones, Naples and Ocean City, NJ

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Letters to the editor for Sunday, January 8, 2023