Monday's letters: Fox News afraid to tell the truth, dead fish on Turtle Beach

Fox viewers: Find another channel

On the night of the 2020 election, Fox News was the first to call Arizona for Democratic candidate Joe Biden. Any normal news organization, committed to telling the truth, would be thrilled to have been the first major network to call a key state. That, however, was not the case.

As we have learned from depositions in the Dominion Voting Systems $1.6 billion case against Fox, executives and on-air talent were afraid that telling the truth about election results would cost them viewers – and profits.

The staff member who oversaw the accurate call for Arizona was dismissed.

Depositions in the case make clear that most Fox on-air broadcasters and senior executives did not believe Donald Trump’s lies about a stolen election and disparaged lawyers such as Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, who spread lies about the election.

The Fox team concluded they must continue to tell election lies or face alienating viewers and advertisers.

Imagine you have been diagnosed with a life-threatening illness. Your physician lies, telling you all is well, but it’s not. You’d be outraged and demand to see a truthful doctor.

The same holds true here. It’s time for Fox viewers to change the channel.

Bill Welsch, Punta Gorda

Fish rotting on Turtle Beach

A couple of weeks ago, I was shocked to see a massive goliath grouper beached and bloated on Turtle Beach.

That was a Saturday. It was still there covered with flies the morning of the next Tuesday and the number of other dead and rotting fish had multiplied considerably.

I was equally shocked to see dedicated beachgoers setting up their chairs and umbrellas amid all the carnage and stench. I concluded that they were weekly renters who had no choice but to keep a stiff upper lip with a clothespin on their nose. Many told me they will never be back.

There are still thousands of dead fish on Turtle Beach. Turtle Beach seems last on the list for cleanup. Why is that? This is a beach that is not as sexy as Siesta, Lido, Holmes Beach or Anna Maria, but why should dead fish still be there?

While I am thinking about it, whatever happened to the Turtle Beach restoration project that was supposedly bringing 100 trucks of sand a day beginning March 1?

Gary Hankinson, Sarasota

Target root cause of climate change

“State of Florida is making resiliency a high priority,” a column March 16 by state Sen. Ben Albritton, reveals a sad but typical failing of the Republican Party.

The senator touts how the governor and Florida Legislature, with its Republican supermajority, are all over the issue of resiliency when it comes to climate disasters. The only problem is that he never mentions dealing with the primary root cause of climate change, the burning of fossil fuels.

Obviously that is because Republicans owe much of their campaign funding to fossil fuel companies.

Any human malady one can think of – be it physical illness, mental illness, obesity, poverty, depression, or, yes, environmental issues – requires dealing with the root cause to solve it. While there is nothing wrong with treating the symptoms, that isn’t going to solve the problem.

Florida voters must expect more from their so-called leaders than treating the symptoms. If a politician’s go-to policy approach for climate change is resiliency, look for somebody smarter and less corrupted by fossil fuel interests to replace that person.

Peter Burkard, Sarasota

Give up table at restaurant, or pay

As we walked through the Sarasota Farmers Market and along Main Street last weekend, we noticed the number of people at restaurants who had finished their meals but were still sitting at their tables enjoying the day.

We, on the other hand, were looking for an available table so we, too, could have a bite to eat.  At one restaurant, we engaged a waiter and complained about all the people who had finished eating but not left.

He suggested an idea that I thought merited a letter. In some places, restaurants have a time policy: The first hour is free, but every hour after that is $15, which is given to the waitstaff to cover lost tips. What a great idea!

I am sure it would be appreciated by all the waitstaff and by those of us hungry folks waiting to get a table.Hugh and Debby Stafford, Sarasota

Gun rights are not given by God

As gun “rights” bills progress through the Ron DeSantis-controlled Legislature, I have a question.

On our local news, I again heard a Republican leader say, “We are trying to restore our God-given rights.”

When did God say this?  Does God have an arsenal in heaven?

However, I do recall something handed down that says, “Thou shalt not kill.”

Guns kill, and they will kill.

Michael Collins, Sarasota

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Fox viewers should change channel, clean up fish on Turtle Beach