FBI should go back to fighting real criminals, not Donald Trump | Opinion

FBI treatment

Re: the Feb. 9 op-ed, “FBI agents deserve fair treatment, not purging.” My father was the Special Agent in Charge with the FBI in Fort Lauderdale from 1951-1968. He went after real criminals, bank robbers, kidnappers, tax evaders. He would be appalled at the state of the FBI today.

Did former FBI Director James B. Comey give fair treatment to Donald Trump?

Hardly.

Mike Grealy,

Plantation

Censored app

Despite DeepSeek becoming the top free application software in the United States in late January, the enthusiasm surrounding China’s DeepSeek R1 has quickly deflated. Behind this initial success is a reason for skepticism.

In contrast to other models like ChatGPT and Claude, DeepSeek is censored. For example, with prompts referring to “Tiananmen Square,” “Xi Jinping” and “Taiwan,” its response is strikingly evasive: “Sorry, that’s beyond my current scope. Let’s talk about something else.”

When given the same prompts, however, ChatGPT and Claude provide substantive responses, highlighting China’s persistent restrictions of free speech.

Can DeepSeek and other entities under China’s control be trusted elsewhere?

Modesto A. Maidique,

Edwin Luu,

Miami

Parkland anniversary

Valentine’s Day will mark the seventh anniversary of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland. To celebrate the occasion, salt was rubbed into the still-open wounds of the 17 victims’ relatives and friends.

Instead of banning military assault killing machines, a federal court of appeals, in all of its infinite wisdom, reverted a gun law banning anyone under 21 to own a gun, under the guise of age discrimination.

Tom Sedor, Sr.,

West Palm Beach

Dolphins great

Howard Twilley, a mainstay on the Miami Dolphins receiving corps for 11 seasons, passed away last week. Twilley accomplished much during his life. He received many awards for his football skills. He also ran a successful business.

It is purely a coincidence that Twilley died at age 81 and wore #81 on his jersey when he played for the Dolphins. I am sure he will be missed by many.

Allan Tavss,

Miami

Art fest fee

The entry fee to the Coconut Grove Art Festival, a once free event, has increased this year to $35 per person. This includes children ages 13 and above. In doing the math for a family of four — two adults and two early teens — the cost is close to $150.. While this may seem reasonable for the event’s directors, a quick look at Miami’s demographics suggests this falls way out of what most would call affordable.

Apparently, the event has moved on from one designed for the “common man” to one directed at the “affluent.”

Sid Kaskey,

South Miami

Illegal entry

Once again, the liberal media and others have confused the difference between undocumented and illegal regarding those who willingly enter our country without any type of governmental clearance. These misguided entities refer to those who chose to enter our country in this matter as undocumented, as if they have an inherent right to be here, versus illegal, as they are violating our immigration laws.

To give an example: if I left my house and simply forgot to bring my valid driver’s license and was stopped by a police officer for a traffic offense, I am undocumented. If I never had a license or it was suspended, then I have committed a criminal traffic offense.

Most of those illegally entering our country are fully aware they are committing a criminal act despite those who are attempting to ameliorate and justify their illegal acts.

Isn’t it time we stopped playing a game of semantics and simply told the truth regarding this issue?

Charles Miller,

Port St. Lucie

Dynamic duo

In an apparent desperate move to insure his relevancy, Gov. Ron DeSantis said he was “supportive” of his wife running for governor of Florida. It would be an interesting test to learn whether a sitting first lady can hold any elected position, let alone a governorship.

DeSantis seems to be hedging his bets on running for president again in 2028 by trying to hold on to power in Florida, even as a shadow governor.

Alex Jimenez,

Winter Park

Medicare cuts

Dear elected officials,

I am a long time occupational therapy assistant and have been working in the skilled home health settings since 1996, licensed and for seven years, as an aide for the elderly. That is a lifetime of caring for the elderly and for people of all ages.

We cannot afford anymore Medicare cuts to stay in business. These cuts affect not just employees, but also large and small business owners and most importantly, patients. Such patients could be your parents, your spouse and eventually, your children.

Our elderly have worked their entire lives for this right to get better and stronger. I have seen with my own eyes and through my life of experience in health care, the effects of occupational, physical and speech therapy in a person’s life.

I urge you to commit to abolishing this Medicare decrease and future cuts that impact our seniors’ lives.

Pamela Siclari,

Pompano Beach

Down at the strip

President Donald Trump wants to develop the Gaza Strip as a tourist destination. This reminds us of another famous strip that once caught his fancy: Atlantic City, New Jersey. It did not end well.

The 39-story Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino was finally razed in 2021, leaving a pile of rubble that has yet to be rebuilt. Much like poor Gaza.

Susan Whitman-Helfgot,

Coral Gables

Rubio must go

Marco Rubio should resign immediately, unless he wants to be known forever as the person who ended American “soft power” in a manner that led to immeasurable hunger, illness and death in low-income countries. Until he became Secretary of State, Sen. Rubio was one of the major proponents of foreign assistance for health. He even asked the Biden administration to increase funding for certain programs at USAID.

Rubio articulated well the importance of foreign assistance to America’s leadership in the world, to not ceding power to China and to saving lives and creating opportunity in poor countries. However, he now presides over the dismantling of USAID. This smacks of a profound lack of integrity, immeasurable hypocrisy and discarding his strong commitment to the well-being of vulnerable people in the rest of the world.

By resigning immediately, Rubio can preserve some part of his reputation and hopefully, some of his integrity.

Richard Skolnik,

Whiterock, NM

Exiles betrayed

Re: Andres Oppenheimer’s Jan. 31 opinion, “Trump betrayed Venezuelan exiles by revoking TPS and engaging Maduro.” Why are Venezuelan exiles surprised by President Trump’s betrayal and his interest in Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro?

They can’t say they didn’t know this malignant narcissist would promise anything to anyone to secure their votes. He demonstrated his pathological lying almost daily during his first term in office and in the preceding and subsequent years. Indeed, his false accusations about Venezuelans echoes nearly word for word what he said about Mexicans.

Recall his demagoguery in Hialeah in November 2023, where he plied his divisive politics against South American immigrants — to a crowd of applauding Cubans.

Sadly, the Venezuelan community did what too many others did in the last election: believe a wannabe dictator while trying to protect themselves from a sitting dictator.

June S. Neal,

Delray Beach

Plain vanilla

President Trump’s blatant hatred of diversity, equity and inclusion was made obvious during his news conference on the mid-air collision over the Potomac River almost two weeks ago.

Does that mean the only people he finds acceptable for his Secret Service protection teams and for air crews for Marine I and Air Force I, are Caucasian males?

Michael Marmesh,

Miami