Letters to the editor for Wednesday, November 22, 2023
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How will council proceed?
Patty Cummings in District 4 has been arrested and charged with three third degree felonies related to her residency. How will the council proceed if she’s found guilty? This could open a can of “legal worms.”If convicted, could the illegal votes be called into question? Will deciding votes be taken again or will they be reversed? How will the council proceed if she’s found guilty? What’s the plan? The council knew this could happen, so I would suspect there is a plan “B.”As I recall, she was the deciding vote and driving force to remove Chairman Shadrach of the budget review committee as well as limiting the committee access to city staff and pertinent information. I believe her activities may have contributed to the implosion of the budget review committee which guaranteed there would be no taxpayer oversight or participation in the final 2024 budget process.Why she was so driven to get rid of Chairman Shadrach and the budget review committee? Did someone engineer it?Other critical votes as I recall, renewal of Mr. Hernandez’s contract and the vote to dismiss him. In both instances she instigated for his removal. Without her vote or influence he may not have been removed. What was the motivation? Was she someone’s pit bull?Did any council members know or suspect that she misrepresented her residency? Was there a conspiracy here? There are many questions and no answers.John Sullivan, former mayor, Cape Coral
Dogs dumped in Collier
This year proves we have lowlifes moving into Collier County.
Every day dozens of dogs are found running lose throughout the county, but mainly Golden Gates Estates, with its open spaces is a prime dumping ground for unwanted dogs.
Domestic Animal Services is run ragged going out to pick up dogs, most alive but some hit by trucks and cars and left by the side of the road. DAS is overloaded with dogs. They cannot be processed and adopted fast enough.
To all you lowlifes dumping dogs. Especially the lady who dumped her dog this morning, a black and white Chihuahua with the name Troy written on his collar. And then took off, we saw you. It took five of us to catch your dog because he was so scared.
Shari Monetta, Naples
Inflation and Bidenomics
The Biden administration is bragging and the left-wing media is cooperating (not surprisingly) with their narrative that inflation is coming down and so called Bidenomics is working. However, the fact remains that in the roughly two years and 10 months that Biden has been in office, the average citizen is paying around 20% more in living expenses than they were when Biden took office. Contrast that with the fact that after four years of Trump being in office, the average citizen was paying less than 5% more than when he took office. In addition, mortgage and other interest rates are up almost three times what they were when Trump left office. It just shows how out of touch the Biden administration is with the average citizen when they try to brag that things are better. They definitely are not.
Ron Wobbeking, Naples
Trump and veterans
Trump says Americans who died in war are "losers" and "suckers."
He demeaned Senator and Republican presidential candidate John McCain for being a POW.
Trump’s own hand selected Chief of Staff John Kelly described Trump as “a person that thinks those who defend their country in uniform, or are shot down or seriously wounded in combat, or spend years being tortured as POWs are all ‘suckers’ because ‘there is nothing in it for them.’”
Trump, Kelly reminded us, repeatedly insulted wounded veterans, dead American soldiers who fought in World War I and U.S. service members killed in Afghanistan and Iraq.
It was noted that in the entire 145 years Trump and his ancestors and immediate family have lived in America, not a single Trump has served in the military.
Notwithstanding Trump’s deplorable treatment of veterans, a retired colonel of Naples in this newspaper’s Nov. 19 Letters to the Editor has the gumption to speak for veterans like me who do not think Trump is worth the spit shine on our boots.
It is important to note that there are major disagreements among veterans based on their political leanings and whether they are citizen soldiers serving short-term tours of duty versus lifers. But polls taken of veterans show that even life-long Republican veterans were dissatisfied with Trump’s leadership. Nearly half (45%) said he didn’t listen enough to military leaders in making national security decisions, and a similar share say they had little trust in him to make the right decisions about the use of military. The rest apparently think its okay to disrespect our veterans.
We are grateful for your service, colonel, and grateful you weren’t killed or captured so you and your family need not suffer the indignity of being called a “sucker” or “loser” by your commander in chief.
God bless those who sacrificed their all to defend us and those captured while doing so.
By the way, colonel, it was veterans who lost their lives or who were captured who were betrayed and not by our current president but by Donald J. Trump himself.
Robert Geltner, captain USAF (veteran), North Fort Myers
Liberal angst
To the writer who is opposed to closed primary elections. Why do you think conservatives need your help in selecting the best candidates to represent a conservative constituency? If the liberal message was so compelling, why would you have any concern with the primary elections as your choice would win the general election? I do hope though that you feel better after venting your frustration.
Don Rader, Naples
Comprehensive immigration reform?
The Democrats keep saying the problem with our southern border is the Republicans refuse to do comprehensive immigration reform.
Pray tell, how changing immigration policy would have prevented the soon to be eight million asylum seekers from being allowed to enter, or even getting caught sneaking in, then getting released into our cities.
Immigration and asylum are two different applications.
What is really needed is that the asylum seekers be vetted for reality. The Democrats run that vetting at the current time.
Currently, all one has to do is walk in, or get caught, and say asylum. It’s not reform that’s needed it’s inform the half of the USA that does not know what’s going on.
John Piccolo, Estero
Rick Scott's rationale
I just learned that Senator Rick Scott endorsed Donald Trump for president. I assume that his rationale for supporting Trump was probably the following:
Trump pushed the insurrection to overthrow the 2020 election that he led which attacked and even killed one metro police officer and injured many more law enforcement officers – great call Senator Scott!
Trump totally mishandled the COVID-19 response which resulted in many unnecessary deaths in Florida and elsewhere – I guess people make mistakes!
Trump left office with the biggest national debt in U.S. history – Good call Senator Scott!
Trump called John McCain "a loser" for being captured and tortured in Vietnam – I sometimes wonder who the real losers are!
Trump refused to go to the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I because it was raining out and the cemetery is full of "losers" anyway – Very patriotic Senator!
Trump said at General Kelly’s son’s grave site at Arlington, “I don’t get it, what was in it for them?” – The senator must have agreed with him!
Trump said, “I don’t want wounded soldiers in the 4th of July parade, it’s bad optics” – I guess the senator understands what "bad optics" are!
Senator Scott must love the fact that Trump avoided the draft because he had "bone spurs" which magically disappeared after the Vietnam War ended!
I guess Senator Scott must have thought long and hard to make the crucial decision to endorse Donald Trump for president!
Rick, I wouldn’t want to be in a foxhole with you or your hero!
Bradley Erck, Naples
Hamas solely to blame
The Sunday, Nov.12, political cartoon about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is blatantly dishonest.
It shows Netanyahu demanding ceaseless vengeance in Gaza, when in truth, the Israeli government does everything in its power to reduce civilian casualties. It is Hamas, a fanatic terrorist organization, that wants dead and injured Palestinians, not Israel. The blame for civilian deaths in Gaza lies solely on Hamas.
Netanyahu is not seeking revenge, but to destroy a force of evil that threatens not only Israel and the Jews, but the entire civilized world. He should be commended, not condemned.
Jeanette Atkinson, Naples
Israel and Palestinians
It wasn’t funny and it wasn’t true! The “cartoon” on page 6B of Sunday’s Naples Daily News was an insulting and prejudicial example of anti-Israel prejudice.
There is an ongoing war between Israel and Hamas right now that was started by an horrific and unprovoked attack by Hamas against peaceful villages in Israel at dawn’s break on Oct. 7th. Hundreds of Israeli citizens were butchered. More were taken prisoners by Hamas, whose so called provoked soldiers then retreated and hid among Palestinian women and children in residential areas of Gaza, in schools and mosques and even hospitals.
Israel had no choice but to pursue and attempt to route out those Hamas murderers wherever they were hiding. The Palestinians had choices. Israel warned them of the coming IDF attacks, an unheard of military action. The Palestinians had voted Hamas into power. They could have turned against them. They could have prevented Hamas terrorists from hiding among them. They could have disclosed the whereabouts of the kidnapped Israeli and, yes, American hostages. They could have barred those terrorists from hiding out in school and mosques. They did not.
What would we in the United States have done? After we were attacked at the New York Trade Center, we properly retaliated. Any nation so attacked would and should respond. Israel is no different except in how too many people perceived and feel about a homeland for Jews. But face the facts: Israel has said the siege and bombardment will cease as soon as Hamas releases the hostages. From Hamas? Silence. All that the Palestinians have to do to stop this war is to turn against and turn in the terrorists among them. From Palestinians? Only continued ailing about how oppressed they are.
Yes, the Palestinians are oppressed but not by Israel. They can end their oppression. All they have to do is stop wailing and rid themselves of the evil within them: Hamas.
Peter Weissman, Naples
Biden Xi meeting
While watching the start of the Biden Xi meeting, I cant help but think how much the U.S. team is outweighed and outsmarted by China.
Biden looks lost, Janet Yellin and Blinken are underachievers as is Jake Alexander, not to mention the Iran lover John "where is my private jet?" Kerry.
The U.S. team will undoubtedly fail to reach any positive results. Xi looks at Biden like a little lost man who is trying to find his way and Xi is much too shrewd to give him the path home.
The U.S. under this elementary administration is in deep trouble and better make a change in the next election.
Michael Zubrow, Naples
Trump's venomous views
There’s an old saying, enamored by statisticians, that “correlation does not imply causation.”
While iterated in various formats, the numbers-crunchers who wittily espouse this view may have it wrong when it comes to the prevailing scourge of antisemitism, which FBI Director Christopher Wray described to Congress a couple of weeks ago and reiterated this week as rising to “historic levels.”
That elevated condition, spurred upwards by the Israel-Gaza war, ominously has not plateaued. But the current uptick in the age-old phenomenon, which is felt here in Florida, too, seems to have started its ascent about the time that former President Trump began his descent down that escalator in Trump Tower to vilify immigrants. He continued that drumbeat against minorities of racial, ethnic, and religious groups, accompanied by insulting and vitriolic remarks carried to extreme throughout his successful campaign, his dysfunctional administration effort, and his losing effort in 2020. Now, to paraphrase candidate Ronald Reagan in a riposte to President Carter in their 1980 campaign: “There you go again.” So, too, ex-President Trump is at it, again, in his current re-run for the White House, doubling down on expressing his venomous views.
While this has been occurring, antisemitism has been rising to its record rate.
Correlation, yes; causation, sure seems that way.
Statisticians, beware.
Marshall H. Tanick, Naples
Why would vets support Trump?
According to Atlantic magazine, on a trip to France to mark the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I, Trump referred to the 1,800 U.S. Marines who gave their lives at Belleau Wood as “suckers.”
The Washington Post and Fox News reported that when Trump canceled a visit to another World War I cemetery, blaming the weather, he remarked, “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.”
On Memorial Day 2017, Trump visited the grave of 1st Lt. Robert Kelly, the son of his chief of staff John Kelly. Standing at the grave of Robert, who died in Afghanistan in 2010, Trump turned to John and said: “I don’t get it. What was in it for them?”
Trump mocks the idea of service and sacrifice. He dismissed the military advisors later in his first term, calling some of them “losers” and “a bunch of dopes and babies” because “we don’t win any wars anymore,” according to Washington Post reporters Rucker and Leonnig.
Trump avoided serving in the Vietnam War with a medical deferment for bone spurs, a condition which never interfered with his playing sports. And, miraculously it disappeared when he was no longer draft-eligible according to his biographers, Gwenda Blair. He referred to John McCain, as a loser because he was captured and spent more than five years in a POW camp after his fighter jet went down over North Vietnam. Donald Trump tweeted in writing: "John McCain Is ‘A Loser’” intimating that being shot down made McCain a loser.
Trump’s White House Chief of Staff, John Kelly, recently revealed that President Donald Trump insulted wounded veterans, dead American soldiers who fought in World War I and U.S. service members killed in Afghanistan and Iraq. Kelly informed CNN anchor Jake Tapper that Trump was “a person that did not want to be seen in the presence of military amputees because "it doesn’t look good for me." A person who demonstrated open contempt for a Gold Star family — for all Gold Star families — on TV during the 2016 campaign, and rants that our most precious heroes who gave their lives in America’s defense are "losers" and wouldn’t visit their graves in France.
Kelly described Trump as “a person that thinks those who defend their country in uniform, or are shot down or seriously wounded in combat, or spend years being tortured as POWs are all ‘suckers’ because ‘there is nothing in it for them.’”
Why do veterans support a person who thinks of them as suckers and losers? “There is nothing in it for them.”
Joe Haack, Naples
Pusillanimous leaders
We are witnessing pusillanimous leaders everywhere. A weak, cowardly president, secretary of state, national security advisor, home security secretary, attorney general, and other executive branch secretaries and administrators, judges, mayors, governors, legislators, board directors, CEO's, college presidents, school boards, principals, and, yes, even some parents. What are they afraid of? Why won't they do the job they signed up to do? Perhaps they're incompetent, or were selected for their job based on factors other than skill, knowledge, and experience? Perhaps they're Marxists masquerading as woke or climate ideologues with a desire to destroy our country? Perhaps their main priority is to preserve their power, control, popularity and celebrity? Perhaps they are terrified of being vilified on social media for taking a stand? Perhaps they are posturing for a big payday in their next job? There's an election coming up, I hope voters are paying attention and will ask themselves these kind of questions before casting their next ballot.
Michael Mainelli, Estero
A welfare state
We don’t want a welfare state. But wait, we already have one. We have a corporate welfare state and it exists in all the states.
When corporate welfare is mentioned, folks immediately go to the banking salvo: “too big to fail.” That’s corporate welfare, but, by no means, is it the main event. The main event under the circus welfare tent is called “Socialism for the rich, capitalism for the poor.” We find, in that tent, a performance where corporations are “privatizing profits and socializing losses” -- they reserve financial gains for themselves as they pass along losses to the rest of society by lobbying the government for assistance by way of excessive, unwarranted, unfair and inefficient subsidies. For instance, agricultural subsidies to keep farmers afloat. The majority of funds from commodity support programs goes to large agribusinesses that own a considerable percentage of production. Archer Daniels is good example. Our new infrastructure and semiconductor subsidies feed corporate profits and are subsidized by the little taxpayers while corporations seek subsidies to make profits for the rich. Boeing, Northrop, General Dynamics and Raytheon look for one trillion in defense dollars from the contributions of us individual taxpayers. Fossil fuel subsidies are obscene. And we have corporations denying their employees health insurance to maximize profits and dumping that liability on middle class taxpayers.
Some facts: Social Security and Medicare are funded by employees while corporate welfare is funded by Trump’s corporate tax cuts for the rich as the little guy again picks up the bill. Trump’s tax relief forced the government to invade the Social Security fund to the tune of $3.7 trillion to pay for unfunded corporate subsidies.
Indeed, we live in a welfare state: a corporate welfare state. It’s time for corporations and the wealthy to pay their fair share and to stop relying on the taxes of ordinary citizens for their welfare handouts.
Sally Lam, Naples
The word 'antisemitism'
Some words creep onto our vocabulary not understood, "antisemitism" and its variants, "antisemite" and "antisemitic" are among them. They have become so common no one thinks to examine them.
To fully understand "antisemitism," one has to define "semitism."
To fully understand "antisemite," one has to define "semite."
To fully understand "antisemitic," one has to define "semitic."
All are references to the various Semitic peoples. None are direct references to Jews. Each has been employed as were they.
The word "antisemitic" was constructed in 1872 by Wilhelm Marr to replace the then German dictionary entry, der Judenhaß, Jew hate, clearly a not parlor friendly term. Marr reasoned he could construct a "softer" term by employing roots in classical languages.
Hate he diminished to "anti," a considerable diminishment, and Jew he expanded to semite, a considerable expansion. It found immediate and lasting favor -- for what it did not say. One could impose a thought without saying it.
Harold A. Maio, Fort Myers
Palestinians reject peace
Whether you read, watch or listen to news, it seems you can’t go more than a few minutes without someone proposing a two-state solution to the crisis in the Middle East. But doing so defies both history and reality.
In 1948, the United Nations proposed to partition the British Mandate for Palestine into two states, one Jewish and one Palestinian. The Arab states rejected peace and instead attacked Israel on its first day of existence with five Arab armies. Despite overwhelming odds, the Israelis prevailed.
In 2000, under Prime Minister Barak, the Israelis proposed to cede Gaza and 97% of the West Bank in exchange for peace. The Palestinians rejected peace.
In 2005, under Prime Minister Sharon, all of the Jewish settlers were forcibly removed from Gaza, and the territory voluntarily ceded to the Palestinians.
In 2008, under Prime Minister Olmert, the Israelis proposed to cede nearly all of the West Bank and one-half of Jerusalem in exchange for peace. The Palestinians rejected peace.
The Muslims do not want peace with the Jews. They want Israel wiped off the map and the Jewish people exterminated. A second Holocaust. That’s what they want and they will accept nothing less. So unless the Israelis want to go on enduring nightly bombings and occasional incursions to kill, rape and terrorize Jewish civilians in despicable fashion, there’s only one thing they can do. And they just started.
Gary Marsh, Estero
This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Letters to the editor for Wednesday, November 22, 2023
